The Growing World of Insurance Content and the Latest News From the IUA

October 11, 2015

There are some great repositories of claims news and thought leadership out there and one publication that consistently produces a good, quick read for claims practitioners is the Risk Today monthly update from International Underwriting Association.

This month’s issue of Risk Today is no exception with news on the Insurance Act, the impact of the Target Operating Model (TOM) on central processes, and other claims topics.

According to the latest issue, the IUA is discussing with members how best to respond to the government’s Enterprise Bill which includes a provision to introduce legal damages for the late payment of claims. Apparently, this proposal was originally due to be part of the Insurance Act passed earlier this year, but was removed after complaints that it was inappropriate for the complex wholesale risks placed in the London Market.

Rather oddly, it seems that the proposal has now been tagged onto a separate piece of legislation not concerned with the insurance industry – the Enterprise Bill whose remit is to reward entrepreneurship and remove red tape for UK start-up businesses.

In other news, the IUA reports that insurers may soon struggle to recruit non-executive directors as “increasingly prescriptive regulation puts pressure on those performing such roles. The IUA has warned that rising responsibilities may shrink the ‘talent pool’ of available candidates and drive up the cost of recruiting non-executive directors. The trend also presents challenges for improving the representative diversity of boards.”

Meanwhile, IUA members have been asked to register their interest in using a shared London Market complaints handling service. As the IUA outlines, “The initiative has been proposed as part of the plan to develop a Target Operating Model (TOM) for the market. It would aim to establish central processes and technology to effectively register, manage and resolve complaints.”

The system would be designed to comply with new Financial Conduct Authority regulations on managing customer complaints and provide the market with a virtual repository of complaints data.

That’s a quick summary of the latest issue of Risk Today but there is plenty else to admire about its news zone on the IUA website while their blog is a popular source of thought leadership topics. We’re new to the world of blogging at DOCOsoft so it’s interesting to see what quality insurance information you can find out there – for free! – when you do a bit of research!

For example, IUA Chief Executive Dave Matcham recently blogged on the subject of how the risks of the future could develop – and how the insurance industry might respond. Matcham writes that: 

“There seems to be a growing consensus among business leaders that if insurance is to remain relevant to the global economy, then we need to adapt and innovate. Increasingly it seems that the issues keeping risk managers awake at night are not those for which insurance cover is adequately available. 

“As XL Catlin CEO Mike McGavick recently stated at the Global Insurance Forum, developments in analytics offer firms the chance to ‘unlock entirely new horizons of insurable activity.’ Indeed, he argued that the industry could be on the cusp of a renaissance if it can rise to the challenge of innovating new products.” You can read the rest of his blog here IUA Blog

Certainly, Matcham’s sentiments are shared by DOCOsoft and we look forward to exploring the future of claims innovation over the coming months. You’ll be able to find articles on our blog but we’re also sharing other industry news and thought leadership via our twitter feed @DOCOsoftDOTCOM.

There is plenty of great insurance and claims content out there and we’ll be sharing the best of it with our readers.

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