| Risk managers support insurer willingness-to-pay index
Asked whether they backed the idea, 69 percent replied yes, with just 12 percent against and 19 percent not sure. Earlier this year, AIRMIC chairman Geoff Taylor described insurer willingness to pay as one of the association’s new priorities. Technical Director Paul Hopkin has completed preliminary work on creating an index, scoping out the main criteria and logistical issues. Incoming chairman Colin Campbell has reaffirmed AIRMIC’s commitment to the project. “As far as risk managers are concerned [insurance companies’] willingness to pay can be every bit as important as the ability to do so. There are rumours – and that may be all they are – that some companies are better than others in this respect. We seek hard evidence, and we expect that our efforts will ultimately help to drive up standards.” The survey shows a substantial level of concern among commercial insurance buyers over the way claims are paid. Fewer than half rated their insurers good or excellent in respect of claims handling speed and accuracy (42 percent) and slightly more than half in respect of adequacy of claims procedures and resources (56 percent). A quarter of the sample had had a claim refused by their insurer within the past two years, whilst half had had one referred to insurers’ senior management. In other aspects risk managers are mainly happy with the service they receive from the insurance industry. 79 percent consider insurer performance good or excellent in respect of cost of cover and deductible levels, 77 percent in respect of coverage offered. 82 percent considered support from their brokers in respect of price and coverage obtained to be good or excellent, 69 percent in respect of service and support. The results confirm previous findings that AIRMIC members are getting much improved broker transparency. 38 percent described the willingness of their broker to disclose their remuneration as excellent, 36 percent as good and just 6 percent as poor. “We still have some way to go until we get the total broker transparency we desire, but this survey demonstrates how much the situation has been transformed over the past few years, at least among the buyers that we represent,” said Campbell. Business continuity, environmental exposures, reputation and contractor exposures are the issues emerging most rapidly amongst the concerns of AIRMIC members. 56 percent of members thought that business continuity would become of increased importance in their organisation over the next 12 months.
•Date: 12th June 2007 • Region: UK •Type: Article •Topic: Operational risk
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