Property payouts hit £4bn; RSA's latest launch; Konsileo's £8m fundraise

From Insurance Post this week

Home insurers that reject half of claims named and shamed

Carpet-fitting fraudster’s dishonesty is laid out

CMA criticises Prima over £300K NCB breach

Top 50 Reinsurers of 2024 revealed

Close Brothers to seek consent to pay premium finance commission

ABI’s Gurga urges regulators to slash red tape

How to support vulnerable insurance customers

From People this week

Crawford promotes Lofkin to UK and Ireland president

Allianz Commercial MD Nadia Côté departs

Ex-BGL CEO Thompson joins Open GI as chair

DLG chief people officer Vicky Wallis to retire

Q&A: Simon Axon, Teradata

Pick of the week

Year-to-date property claims payouts hit £4.1bn

Deal value: Not disclosed

Date announced: 19 November

Insurers paid out £1.3bn in claims during the third quarter of this year to help homeowners and businesses cope with unexpected and unwanted events like fire and flooding, according to the latest data from the Association of British Insurers.
 
This follows a costly second quarter for insurers with claims payouts of £1.4bn, bringing the year-to-date total to £4.1bn – the largest amount paid out in the first nine months of any year on record.  

Claims for the first three quarters of the year were also more than £500m (15%) higher compared to the same period in 2023. This increase comes as adverse weather continues to play a significant role in the amount insurers pay out in home insurance claims.     

The latest claims data from the ABI reveals: 

• Total claims in the third quarter of this year were £200m more compared to the same quarter last year. 
• The average payout per home insurance claim rose 13% on Q2 2024 to £6002 – a record high. It is also 33% (£1506) higher compared to the same period in 2023. 
• Claims for damage to homes from storms, heavy rain and frozen pipes reached £136m in the third quarter of this year. This is the sixth consecutive quarter that weather-related claims have been above £100m. The figure is also 6% higher than the £128m paid out in Q3 2023. 
• Claims for weather damage to businesses remained high at £90m – an increase of 4.5% on the previous quarter, and up 28% on the same quarter last year.
• Subsidence payouts for home insurance claims were also up at £66m – rising 11% on the £59m paid in Q2 2024, and 61% on Q3 2023.  

The impact of high claims is reflected in the price of premiums, as the average price of combined building and contents home insurance went up by 3% in the third quarter of the year.  

The latest premium data from the ABI reveals: 

• The average price of a household combined buildings and contents policy in Q3 2024 was £407 – £11 (3%) higher than the previous quarter and £56 (16%) more than the same period last year. 
• The average buildings only policy was £329, an increase of £9 (3%) on the previous quarter, and up £57 (21%) on Q3 2023.
• For the contents-only cover, the average price paid was £138 – stable from Q2 2024 but £11 (9%) more than Q3 2023.  

Louise Clark, policy adviser at the ABI, said: “Insurers continue to be at the forefront of climate change, supporting communities impacted by extreme weather to recover as quickly as possible. We know premiums are putting pressure on household budgets and, as an industry we’re determined to play our part in tackling the cost pressures behind them.  

“However, the industry cannot do this alone. The government must take action too, and more investment in flood defence and maintenance is urgently needed. 

“We also need to see swift action on surface water flooding, and an immediate end to building on land that is at a high risk of flooding. Flood prevention and resilience measures must be considered in all planning decisions and building standards – to make sure all new buildings are climate resilient.”  

Insurers and CHO announce fundamental reforms to GTA

Deal value: N/A

Date announced: 21 November

Credit hire companies and motor insurers have agreed a number of sweeping reforms to the GTA which will reduce costs and benefit British motorists who require mobility when their own vehicle is off the road.

Anthony Hughes, chair and CEO of the Credit Hire Organisation, and NFU Mutual’s Pete Highfield,  insurance lead on the new GTA Strategy Board, said the revised GTA included four major new initiatives:

1. An annual independent vehicle hire rate review driven by market data
2. Compulsory arbitration where cases are not agreed and settled within a set number of  days following submission of a clean payment pack
3. A new set of late payment penalties
4. Clearer rules on the areas of argument/dispute in the arbitration process

Hughes said: “For the past 18 months we have been working with both Insurers and the ABI to conclude significant revisions and improvements to the GTA. Our strategic objective has been clear from Day1; reduce or ideally remove frictional costs and put consumers at the heart of the accident management process.”

Mr Highfield said: “Our collective aim is to create a fair and efficient mobility solution for innocent accident victims, and to minimise friction by deploying a compulsory arbitration process which minimises points of dispute and where operational efficiency is rewarded by reduced claims cost.”

Anthony Hughes explained that another benefit from the agreement would be a reduction in credit hire cases ending up in Court. 

“We estimate that as many as 100,000 credit hire cases could be removed from the County Court if the reforms work as planned, which would greatly benefit our hard pressed civil justice system.”

Cyber Monitoring Centre partners with Cirium

Deal value: N/A

Date announced: 19 November

The Cyber Monitoring Centre is partnering with Cirium to understand the effects of cyber events on the UK aviation industry.

Cirium delivers global data and analytics solutions to leaders in finance, aerospace, travel and government. Cirium data provides insights on more than 35 million flights per year.

Cirium’s data has already provided the CMC with insights into the effects of the CrowdStrike cyber event. For three days from Friday 19 to Sunday 21 July, 390 flights were cancelled departing UK airports, impacting 65,000 passengers with a further 1,700 departures delayed by more than an hour.

Ruth Goodwin, head of operations at the Cyber Monitoring Centre, said: “Cyber events can have far-reaching impacts on airlines, including lost fare income, accommodation costs for stranded passengers, and passenger compensation. Events also have a knock-on effect on airports, retail businesses in airports, and the broader tourism industry.

“This is another example of the robust data-driven approach that we are taking to analyse and categorise cyber events to allow more informed decisions to be made around cyber risk.”

Kevin O’Toole, chief strategy officer at Cirium, added: “The Crowdstrike event not only highlighted the immediate impact of such an outage, but also the subsequent disruption in the days that followed, as airlines sought to recover the schedule and reaccommodate passengers. 

“We look forward to future collaborations and hope that CMC’s work will add to the industry’s understanding of how to react to future such events.”  

Aqueous seals capacity deal with Allied World and Sompo

Deal value: N/A

Date announced: 19 November

Aqueous Underwriting has secured major new capacity in a three-year deal with Allied World and Sompo. 

The move to a syndicated capacity arrangement provides the MGA with the opportunity to significantly develop and enhance its product suite as it enters its next phase of growth.

Following a mutual agreement reflecting differing strategic objectives, the MGA will transition from Allianz to the new capacity providers over the remainder of 2024 and continues to partner with Allianz on other product lines. 

The syndicated binder agreement with Allied World and Sompo is active for all SME package new business submissions with immediate effect.

The MGA, which specialises in the professional indemnity and SME package (food, hospitality, leisure, and hotel) sectors, believes the new arrangement will enable it to build on its reputation for responding quickly to changing customer needs. 

Aqueous is also launching an extension to its pubs, restaurants, and bars product to address the significant increase in dine-and-dash losses. The new coverage extension will be available in January.

Emma Lisi, senior vice president and head of UK commercial division at Allied World, commented: “Allied World is committed to the SME market in the UK and partnering with Aqueous is a natural fit. We look forward to leveraging our technical knowledge, and market relationships to deliver insurance solutions for brokers.”

Joe Brown, head of UK middle market & SME, commercial P&C insurance at Sompo UK added: “We are delighted to be partnering with the team at Aqueous, a move which fits in with our ongoing strategy to develop further our UK commercial footprint and support the needs of our growing SME customer base outside the London market.”

Tom Hill, head of e-trade at Aqueous Underwriting said: “Next year will be an exciting one for us all at Aqueous as we accelerate our growth in the SME market.”

RSA launches protection for climate professionals 

Deal value: N/A

Date announced: 18 November

RSA Insurance has launched a Climate Professionals Professional Indemnity product designed specifically for companies and consultants who advise businesses and organisations on sustainability, net zero, and climate-related activities and strategies. 

The increased requirement from companies, shareholders and regulatory bodies to establish strong net zero strategies and sustainability plans, has increased the demand for consultants offering this specialist advice, making the need for suitable protection even more important. 

Due to the individual nature of each sector, there are bespoke PI products for a range of different professions. Climate Professionals is a product aimed at a range of climate related professions ranging from net zero, ESG and sustainability consultants to engineers, the businesses and specialists that are driving the transition to a sustainable economy. 

Customers are also given exclusive access to a newly created section of the RSA Business Support Hub, an online resource with business tools, risk management and legal support to help individuals protect and manage their business. 

The new section has ESG content and guidance; articles, blogs, practical guides, case studies and videos covering a range of regulatory, legal, disclosure and environmental topics, relevant to them and the services they provide.

Edward Ambrose, UK head of professional indemnity at RSA Insurance, said: “In this increasingly litigious environment professional indemnity cover is vital for companies and consultants providing advisory services. With climate, sustainability and net zero considerations growing in importance to all organisations, we believe there is strong demand and desire for this type of product. 

“We’re not stopping here, in a profession that is rapidly changing, we’ll maintain contact with brokers and clients to ensure the product stays relevant, continues to meet needs and evolves where necessary.” 

And finally …

• Commercial broker Konsileo has completed a £8m fundraise to accelerate its expansion across the UK.
• Philip Byrne, group head of compliance at Markerstudy Group, has left the company to become chief risk and compliance officer at life insurance broker, Reassured.
• Arkel has added its Landlords Let Property insurance product ‘Premier Let’ to the Open GI trading platform.
• Effective 1 January 2025, Tom Quy will be promoted to managing director of Acrisure London Wholesale, succeeding John Sutton as he transitions into a new role.
• The Claims Portal has partnered with Crif to improve its user experience by migrating to a brand new cloud-based solution. 
• Novidea has expanded its London Market presence with new offices at the heart of the City in London.
• Real estate broker JM Glendinning Real Estate is also expanding its team and geographic footprint with a new base in London.
• Covéa Insurance has launched its home insurance business on CDL’s insurer hosted pricing hub, as it targets growth and market agility in this segment. 
• Europcar Mobility Group UK has become the first car rental company to join the Managing General Agents Association.