After a fantastic night of celebration in London, the best of claims have been named when 16 awards were given out
Hundreds of the biggest and best names in claims gathered last night for the Insurance Times Claims Excellence Awards.
Taking place at the swanky Royal Garden Hotel in London’s Kensington High Street, 16 awards and one highly commended award was given out by special guest host, comedian Lucy Porter.
Insurance Times’ content director, Saxon East kicked off proceedings by welcoming all attendees, thanking the night’s primary sponsor WNS Assistance and praising the “unsung heroes” of the insurance industry.
What followed was a fantastic dinner consisting of sirloin steak in a Bordeaux wine sauce, and a lemon panna cotta for dessert.
Then, after dinner, East introduced Porter who handed out the 16 awards.
The winners
Aviva walked away with the most awards, picking up two on the night for Claims Product Solution of the Year – Direct and Commercial Lines Claims Excellence of the Year.
Setoo won the newly created for 2019 Claims Startup of the Year award, beating off very strong competition.
LV= claimed the Newsmaker of the Year award, with its victory in the Supreme Court over unnamed drivers.
Other notable winners were Markel, who won the award for Claims Service Solution of the Year – Insurer; Covea for Personal Lines Claims Excellence of the Year and Direct Commercial, who picked up the award for Claims Team of the Year.
But the biggest award of the night, the Claims Champion of the Year award went to the recently retired former claims director for Lloyd’s and Hiscox, Jeremy Pinchin.
Pinchin left a message, thanking Insurance Times for the award, while praising the claims industry, calling it “the heartbeat of insurance.”
He said: “A humbling award.
“Claims are the heartbeat of the industry – serving our clients and our shareholders.
“In my time in claims, there have been challenging times where I have seen first-hand the value claims service provides to individuals, corporations and even countries.”
Commenting on their win, Covéa’s claims and operations director Adrian Furness said: ”We are incredibly proud to have won this award, hot on the heels of gaining 5 star accolades in the IT broker service survey for our commercial and personal lines business.
”Our on-going commitment to fantastic customer service remains a priority for us and this award is testament to the hard work of our teams across the business.”
By Miles scooped the Customer Care Solution of the Year - General, its chief technology officer, Callum Rimmer said: “It’s vital that our members know they’ll be well looked after if the worst happens, and we’ve put a great deal of work into making the claims process as simple and straightforward as possible. This is just the beginning for us though, as we’re looking to launch an in-app claims process before the year is out.”
And Setoo bagged the award for Claims Start-up, Pierre-Olivier Desaulle its chief insurance officer, said: “We have worked hard to build a solution that delivers a new insurance experience in general, and revolutionises claims through automatic compensation, which creates a hassle-free process requiring no forms or justifications.
”This means not only meeting customer expectations with personalised, claims-free protections, but also growing opportunities for e-businesses and the insurance industry to stay relevant. We are honoured to see our hard work recognised by Insurance Times, highlighting that we are achieving those goals and delivering on our mission to simplify insurance.
“This win is testament to the work we have put in and is a fantastic reward for our team. We are excited for the future of the business – our partnerships with Invia Flights Germany, Fluege.de and lm group, LastMinute.com have already been announced, and many more are due to follow. And we’re positive about the future of insurance as a whole, which will become an increasingly important aspect of e-businesses’ offering.”
Sedgwick, which brought home the claims service solution of the year - general, said it was ”delighted to have won the award.” Neil Gibson, managing director – home claims & liability claim services added: “We’re always looking at how we can make claims easier for everyone and by using this simple but amazingly effective piece of AI-powered technology, we have improved the flooring validation part of the claims process significantly.”
Reflecting on Aviva’s double win, UK general insurance claims director Andrew Morish said: “We regard the service we offer our customers and brokers when it comes to making a claim absolutely fundamental to our success.
”An efficient and simple service, that has empathy and is expert, means that customers can get the help they need during the most challenging times. I’m delighted that our claims team has been recognised.
”But we don’t stand still and are focused on continuing to look at innovative ways to improve our claims service that responds to customers’ evolving needs.”
The full list of winners can be found below:
Claims Champion of the Year
Jeremy Pinchin
Claims Newsmaker of the Year
Aviva reveals plan to tackle water leak claims through new acquisition
AXA’s three new AI bots to save 18,000 man-hours a year
Carlyle Group completes Sedgwick takeover
Davies Group acquires Ardonagh owned firms claims business
LV= wins divisive unnamed driver Supreme Court ruling
Winner: LV= wins divisive unnamed driver Supreme Court ruling
Claims Product Solution of the Year – Direct to market sponsored by WNS Assistance
Assurant UK and Synectics Solutions
Aviva
Davies Group
Winner: Aviva
The winner created a new way of valuing vehicle write offs that dramatically sped up the process and by using examples of similar cars from the Autotrader website demonstrates fair settlement values to clients in an easy to understand way, leading to higher customer satisfaction.
Claims Product Solution of the Year – Service Provider sponsored by WNS Assistance
ARAG
Collision Management Systems in conjunction with sopp+sopp
Coplus
Horwich Farrelly
Winner: ARAG
The winner has created a motor breakdown solution to meet the demanding expectations of the high net worth market and is on course to meet its target of doubling insurer partners by the end of the year.
Claims Product Solution of the Year – Service Provider (Technology) sponsored by WNS Assistance
Claim Technology
Cover Genius
Rightindem
VisionTrack
Winner: VisionTrack
The winner’s innovative use of video telematics has cut the number of claims for one client by nearly a quarter by closely monitoring fleet drivers and alerting them - and their managers - to potentially dangerous situations.
Claims Service Solution of the Year - Adviser
DWF Law LLP
Keoghs
Zeb
Winner: Keoghs
The winner has created what it says is the industry’s first artificial intelligence defendant insurance lawyer, enabling a dramatic cost reduction for leading insurer clients.
Claims Service Solution of the Year - General
Claims Consortium Group
Sedgwick International UK
Trak Global Group
WNS Assistance
Winner: Sedgwick International UK
The winner showed clear benefits and added value to the customer. Good links to FCA regulation, excellent use of technology, all in a simple but effective way, to benefit the customer.
Claims Service Solution of the Year – Insurer
Aviva
Co-op Insurance
Ecclesiastical Insurance
Markel
Winner: Markel
The winner’s solution tackles potential claims before they are triggered in the IT contractor’s market through an innovative tie up with law firm DWF to encourage firms to sort out invoice disputes before they end up in court.
Claims Start-up
By Miles
Claim Technology
Setoo
Travel Salvage
Virtus
Winner: Setoo
The winner is an innovator in parametric insurance for travellers and has successfully built a partnership with LastMinute.com. A key product triggers a pay out before you land if your flight is disrupted and the approach has the potential for growth in many other markets.
Claims Team of the Year
AIG UK
Coplus
Direct Commercial
Gallagher
Romero Insurance Brokers
Winner: Direct Commercial
The judges were impressed with the winner’s willingness to change and try a totally different process after receiving some harsh feedback from a particularly challenging sector of the market.
Commercial Lines Claims Excellence of the Year
Aviva
Covéa Insurance
Ecclesiastical Insurance
Markel
Winner: Aviva
The winner settles an incredible 990,000 claims a year, worth £3.8 bn, and is pursuing a multitude of initiatives to improve the claims experience for clients and brokers. The insurer has also led the way in taking legal action against fraudulent claims and has declined to take business from more than 16,000 clients worth £30m in premium income to protect honest policyholders and maintain competitive premiums.
Customer Care Solution of the Year - General
Aviva Property Claims
By Miles
Co-op Insurance
Hiscox UK
Markel
Winner: By Miles
The way the winner uses innovative technology to support both claims and the policy really stood out. The ‘find my car’ tool enabling stolen cars to be quickly recovered particularly impressed the judges.
Customer Care Solution of the Year – Service Provider
CEGA, a Charles Taylor Company
Claim Technology
Countrywide Hearing
Evander Glazing & Locks
M&M Fix Auto - Stoke
Winner: CEGA, a Charles Taylor Company
The winning solution demonstrated clear empathy with the customer, going all-out to provide positive outcomes for them, including simulating an airport experience for staff.
Highly commended: Evander Glazing & Locks
Fraud Prevention Solution of the Year
Assurant UK and Synectics Solutions
iovation
NFU Mutual
Zurich Insurance Company
Winner: Assurant UK and Synectics Solutions
The winner showed proven results in a fast moving, complex and very challenging sector where it is focussed on high volume rather than high value.
Personal Lines Claims Excellence of the Year
Aviva
Chubb
Covéa Insurance
Hiscox UK
Winner: Covéa Insurance
The winner created a customer panel to obtain feedback, taking the level of engagement to another level.
Third Party Claims Management Team of the Year
Aspray
Claims Consortium Group
Coplus
Sedgwick International UK
Winner: Claims Consortium Group
The winner, a young company, massively exceeded the expectations of a very demanding insurer client and delivered impressive results.
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