Looking on the bright side – this week’s news in review
Is it just me or are things feeling a little more positive this week? The sun made a welcome return to lift our spirits, Matt Hancock insisted this week that we’ve reached the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak (surely it won’t be long before restrictions begin to slowly lift) and many of our favourite fast food joints have started delivering again .. happy days!
This week I wanted to continue the theme of positivity and focus on some of the lighter stories I’ve come across this week.
Every silver lining has a ‘Cloud’
According to interviews in Insurance Business this week, for some Insurtechs, COVID-19 presents an opportunity to thrive and demonstrate resilience. Online risk assessment platform iSurveyRisk reported a 25% increase in brokers using their virtual property risk assessment service both in Australia and the UK, showing that brokers are recognising the benefits of such tools and quickly adapting their processes to meet the challenges facing them.
In another in-depth interview, CEO of Insurtech GetSafe explained that with strong technical infrastructures and digital processes, Insurtechs are in an advantageous position compared to more traditional competitors. It feels as though we’ve been talking about the age of digital transformation for a long time, but these last few months have demonstrated just how important it is to innovate, and quickly. Businesses that have embraced and embedded a digital strategy are in a good position to weather this storm.
Admiral leading the charge
Last week Matt speculated on whether the UK would follow America’s lead and start offering partial refunds to drivers, as lockdown has resulted in a drastic fall in vehicle use and claims.
This week it was widely reported that Admiral would be the first UK insurer to offer a “pandemic rebate” to all of its motor customers. Insurance Age (and many others) reported that Admiral would be returning £110m to its car and van customers as part of its Stay at Home Refunds plan.
In a letter sent out to all its policyholders by head of UK insurance Cristina Nestares, the insurer stated “We want to give the money we would have used to pay these claims back to our loyal customers in this difficult time”, as well as offering £25 per vehicle to insured customers the company also pledges to spend £80m on premium reductions and additional support for NHS works.
The move has generally been well received leading to pressure on other insurers to follow suit, but could Admiral’s generosity now hit policyholders in the pocket at renewal time?
Pandemic taskforce – Assemble!
In a story worthy of the Marvel universe, a motley team of industry superheroes banded together to form a steering group to develop a pandemic proposal to help the industry to strengthen its approach to any future pandemics.
Insurance Journal reported that the group, led by Stephen Catlin (Convex) and including industry leaders including Maurice Tulloch (Aviva), Nick Frankland (AON), James Nash (Guy Carpenter), Julian Enozi (Pool Re), Stephen Hester (RSA) and James Kent (Willis Re), will work closely with Pool Re to propose an industry response to the Government and country.
Catlin was keen to state that one of the purposes of the group would be to attempt to repair the reputation of the industry, which has come under fire from policyholders over the way it has dealt with claims. He stated in Insurance Age that some of the communications that have gone to customers may not have been very well thought-through, highlighting a lack of accord throughout the industry on how best to approach communications during such a crisis. He hopes that the steering group will be able to “find workable solutions to the benefit of everybody”.
Given the enormous impact the current pandemic is having on the industry, both in terms of reputation and the bottom-line, laying preparations now to deal with the next viral enemy is surely to be lauded.
Brighter news for some customers
I couldn’t review the week’s news without mentioning Hiscox. Not a day has gone by this week without reference to the insurer’s approach to business interruption claims.
And while Hiscox reiterated its stance on business interruption claims this week stating “Like others in the industry, Hiscox UK’s core small commercial package policies do not provide cover for business interruption as a result of the general measures taken by the UK government in response to a pandemic”, for other customers the news was slightly better.
Insurance Times reported this morning that with “substantial catastrophe reinsurance” in place, the insurer is actively paying out claims for other lines of business such as event cancellation and abandonment, media and entertainment and travel. Current estimates suggest the net claims total could exceed $150m depending on the length of Government-imposed restrictions.
For more see:
https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2020/04/21/565589.htm
https://www.insurancetimes.co.uk/news/hiscox-expecting-to-pay-net-claims-up-to-150m/1433216.article