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Insurers See Worldwide Drop in Customer Satisfaction

Non-life insurers in most of the world saw improved underwriting ratios last year, thanks to a significant drop in claims expenses and rising premium volume aided by growth in emerging markets. According to Capgemini’s 2015 World Insurance Report, however, insurers were not nearly as successful with their customers.

Globally, positive customer experiences decreased significantly in 2014, indicating that steps taken by insurers are not matching rising customer expectations, the consultancy reported. The fall was pervasive worldwide, but North America witnessed the largest drop of 8.3 percentage points, followed by Latin America with 5.3 points.

According to the report, “The agent channel delivered positive experience levels that were almost double those of digital channels, suggesting that digital channels are dragging down global customer experience levels. Customer expectations of digital channels such as mobile and social media are rising rapidly along with their usage and importance. However, more than 40% of customers cited positive experiences through the agency channel, while less than 30% of customers had positive experiences through digital channels such as mobile and social media.”

Claims servicing is also problematic in terms of customer experience, seeing the lowest percentage of happy customers.

Among all customers, Gen Y currently presents the biggest decrease in satisfaction. The drop in positive experience levels was much steeper for this age group than any other, and this trend is seen across all regions, especially in the developed markets. In North America, the drop in experience levels for Gen Y customers was approximately 10 percentage points steeper than other age segments, while in developed Asia-Pacific the difference was around five percentage points, Capgemini reported.

Check out more of the study’s key findings in the infographic below:

2015 world insurance report infographic

 

A Turbulent Year for the Aviation Industry, Despite Improving Safety

MH 17 Wreckage Denis Kornilov / Shutterstock.com

First, Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 mysteriously disappeared in March, dominating the news cycle and baffling aviation experts, government officials and civilian observers alike. This month, three tragedies in short succession have kept the industry in the hot seat. Malaysia Airlines made headlines once again on July 17 after Flight MH 17, a Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over Ukraine. It is now the seventh most deadly aviation crash in history. Exactly who fired on the plane remains unclear, as do many questions of insurance, as war has not officially been declared, despite months of fighting in the region. An act of war would exclude losses from insurance coverage, but remaining uncertainty does as well. Plus, “Unless Russia has declared war on Malaysia, that would knock out the exclusion,” RIMS Vice President Rick Roberts told Mashable. But for it to fall under under terrorism coverage, “someone has to certify that the act that occurred wasn’t a mistake—that it was a malicious act.” The already struggling company may not be able to survive this second disaster, or the reputational devastation.

Ten Deadliest Plane Crashes

Tragedy has further plagued the industry this month. On July 23, a TransAsia flight from Taiwan crashed, killing 48. The next day, an Air Algérie flight from Burkina Faso to Algeria disappeared less than an hour after takeoff in the air space over Mali. Approximately 24 hours later, peasants found the plane’s wreckage near Gao, Mali, and French soldiers dispatched to the scene were able to recover a black box, but no survivors.

Despite the string of disasters, there is no evidence that air travel is in any way more dangerous on the whole. In fact, it is safer than ever before. Nearly three billion people fly safely each year on more than 37 million flights, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reports, and the global plane accident rate fell to the lowest level in aviation history in 2012. Over the past 10 years, both the crash and fatality rates have trended downward, according to statistics from the Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives. But, little more than halfway into 2014, the number of people killed in plane crashes is more than double the total for 2013 (991 and 459, respectively).

Based on BAAA data:

Crashes per year

Deaths per year

Looking back even further, this chart from the Wall Street Journal leaves little doubt that the aviation industry has grown drastically safer:

Deadly flights

While 2014 has been more fatal thus far, the overall number of crashes continues to decrease. There have been 70 commercial-plane crashes globally so far, versus 81 for the comparable period a year earlier, according to Aviation Safety Network, part of the Flight Safety Foundation. Further, the four tragedies do not have any common root causes for their failures.

Insurance Changes on the Horizon

International carriers are feeling most of the strain, and that is likely to have serious implications for insurance premiums. “Given the accumulation of losses, including the loss of Asiana Airlines’ Boeing 777 in San Francisco last year, an explosion causing damage to 20 aircraft in Tripoli recently, and this week’s losses in Africa and Taiwan, these will, altogether, put pressure on the global insurance market,” said Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute. “I expect most of the impact to be focused on international carriers, particularly those operating in or traversing parts of the world that I would characterize as ‘hotspots,’ currently experiencing military or political instability. That would certainly include Ukraine, parts of the Middle East, and parts of Africa.”

While the recent spate of tragedies may leave many travelers wary of getting on a plane, American airlines have less to worry about regarding premiums than their foreign counterparts. There have been are no notable losses this year among domestic carriers, or U.S.-based airlines that fly internationally. As Hartwig pointed out, however, “With a few exceptions, they do not tend to traverse many of those hotspots to begin with.”

In Africa and other developing regions, “you identify accidents in many places that would have happened 30 or 40 years ago in the West, because oversight is lagging,” Dominique Fouda, spokesman for the European Aviation Safety Agency, told the Wall Street Journal. “You also see different accidents linked to local conditions.”

Best of the Worst in Insurance Fraud

The second most costly white collar crime in America behind tax evasion, insurance fraud costs an estimated $80 billion annually. Questionable claims rose 26.7% across the United States between 2010 and 2012, according to Mercury Insurance Company, whose Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of 50 investigators nationwide examines questionable claims. The team completed 1,476 investigations in California alone, exposing more than $24 million in attempted fraud, the company said.

“It’s amazing the things people will do to try and cheat the system, but they don’t know we’ve seen it all,” said Dan Bales, national director of special investigations for Mercury, which established one of the country’s first SIU’s in 1978. “Our SIU goal is to stay several steps ahead of these criminals and continue to uncover fraud, which can contribute to as much as 30% of customers’ premiums.”

Below are Mercury’s Top 3 “Best of the Worst Claims,” in 2013, highlighting some of the methods used to try and beat the system.

Claim #3: Bicycle Down

The claimant alleged he was struck as his bicycle passed behind a Mercury-insured vehicle that was backing up in a parking lot. He called the police, filed a report claiming injury and property damage, and was then transported by ambulance to a medical center to treat his alleged injuries.

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The real story was quite different, however, as this criminal didn’t know the entire incident was caught on video. The video clearly showed the claimant intentionally slapping the back of the insured vehicle with his hand and then guiding his bicycle to the ground to make it look like he’d been struck by the car.

The claimant retained an attorney to pursue an injury claim, which was denied by Mercury following the police report that included the security camera video taken at the scene. The claimant was ultimately arrested, convicted and sentenced to three months in jail with three years’ probation, and also had to pay a fine, restitution and his medical bills. Watch the video clip

Claim #2: Wrong Way Driver

The insured stopped at an intersection in front of a repair van. Suddenly, the two vehicles collided in what appeared to be a rear-end collision, which necessitated police being called to gather statements.

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The insured driver and passenger claimed the van driver had rear-ended the insured’s vehicle and both were allegedly injured. However, the van driver’s adamant contention that he hadn’t caused the accident led the investigating officer to seek surveillance video, which he found at a nearby gas station. Sure enough, the footage revealed that instead of proceeding through the intersection as expected, the insured driver threw her vehicle into reverse, slamming into the front of the van.

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The insured driver and her passenger were subsequently charged with insurance fraud and conspiracy, and the driver was also charged with assault with a deadly weapon … her car. And yes, the claim was denied. Watch the video clip

Claim #1: A Not-So-Merry Christmas

Looking to make some quick Christmas cash, the insured and two cohorts staged an accident and filed medical payment claims through Mercury, which were identified as questionable and assigned to the SIU for investigation.

A detailed claims history was compiled for the three individuals, who were then interviewed by SIU investigators. What the investigators found was that each claimant’s story was different, so they began to look deeper. That’s when they uncovered some very compelling evidence that suggested this accident was staged.

The SIU team discovered the insured’s prior claim history showed a loss at the same location with the same facts provided. A confession quickly followed about his latest claim, as well as a description of all the fraud he’d committed on each of his previous claims. All three claimants were convicted and given probation, community service and ordered to pay more than $26,000 in restitution to Mercury Insurance.

Suspicious activity can be reported to the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

‘A Christmas Story’ Risks Demystified

Who knew A Christmas Story was so full of dangerous and costly risks? Think about it. A “double dog-dare” could have led to a disasterous school yard injury and we all know what can happen when kids play with BB guns.

Lockton, which recognized the huge risks involved, has published a white paper examining these and other risks in the classic movie. They have even gone a step further, outlining the potential costs of coverage.

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For example, consider this: unsupervised children left to amuse themselves on an icy cold playground.

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“Winter is filled with fun, but also dangerous with recess activities like snowball fights and playing tag on icy blacktops. Even with the best of intentions, some injuries are unavoidable and parents are bound to hold the school liable,” according to the report, Ralphie’s Risk Management Story: An Insurance Perspective on the Holiday Classic, “A Christmas Story.” Cost of insurance for this risk? A policy with limits of ,000 for each individual—with a premium cost of 0.

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And who could forget the “priceless” leg lamp, won through a newspaper sweepstakes, but broken during a “vacuuming accident?” In this scenario it’s Lloyd’s to the rescue with $1 million in coverage and a premium of $5,000.

But wait, there’s more. The paper looks at exposures including shipment of Ralphie Parker’s pink bunny suit; workers compensation for employees of the Chop Suey Palace—where a worker cuts his finger preparing the Parkers’ Christmas dinner; the Parker home and automobile risks; Santa’s infamous slide at Higbee’s Department Store; and the risks of a Red Ryder BB gun misfire. Now that’s a lot of risk, but fortunately, all manageable.

Happy Holidays!