Gibraltar-based insurer was the largest personal motor insurer not already working with fraud-busting initiative

Gibraltar-based insurer Southern Rock has joined industry fraud-busting initiative the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB).

The IFB said Southern Rock was the largest personal lines motor insurer that was not already working with the initiative.

The insure will use IFB intelligence to help stamp out fraud. In turn the IFB will benefit from the additional data and intelligence that Southern Rock can provide.

The IFB introduced application fraud products in 2013 that allow broker and insurer members to tackle fraud at the point of sale.

In addition, the bureau expects the forthcoming introduction of commercial vehicle data from the MID2 database to help it identify more crash for cash scams and abuse of trade policies by ghost brokers.

Southern Rock managing director Chris Gillighan said: “Southern Rock is excited to see what incremental value becoming members of the IFB will allow us to achieve.

“We already have comprehensive fraud systems in place and the addition of the extra capabilities such as the ghost broking tool will allow us to further enhance our strong fraud controls.”

He added: “Becoming members of the IFB was an obvious next step for us and we are looking forward to both sharing, and making use of data that will be made available by the IFB and other members.”

IFB director Ben Fletcher said: “Having Southern Rock on board enhances both the information at our fingertips and the scale of our collaborative efforts to combat fraud.”

Southern Rock writes personal motor business in the UK though its Go Skippy brand. Its claims are handled by Newcastle-based Eldon Insurance.

The IFB was founded in 2006 to spearhead the insurance industry’s fight against fraud.