Tag Archives: FCA

Choose An Insurer That Pays Out For Most Of Its Claims

HomeIf you want to arrange the likes of home (buildings and contents) insurance either for the first time or are considering moving your cover from your existing insurance company to a new provider there may be several factors that will have a bearing on which insurer you take out the cover with. For most people, the number one consideration is how much they will have to pay in premiums to the insurance company to protect their home and contents in the event of things like fire, flood, accidental damage and theft.

That may sound fine but the reason why you require such cover is to give you peace of mind so that if your home was burned to the ground, your Rolex stolen or your skiing equipment damaged in transit you could claim and the insurer would cover the vast majority of your claim to rebuild your property and/or replace or repair the damaged items. So, surely another factor that you should consider when deciding which insurer to arrange the cover with is the percentage of claims that it ends up paying out for.

In that respect, you may be interested to read that, on the 1st March 2018, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published the “General Insurance value measures data – year ending 31 August 2017”. This document includes data from 36 insurance companies (UK and EEA firms) about claims acceptance rates, average claim pay-outs and claims frequencies. The publication can be viewed on the FCA’s website via the following link: –

https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/data/general-insurance-value-measures-data-year-ending-31-august-2017

If you take a look at the Claims Acceptance Rate column in the section relating to Home Insurance you will see that there is a wide variance in the percentage of claims insurers agree to pay out for.Home

At the top end of the scale the following insurers accepted 97.5% to 100% of claims: –

• Chubb European Group Limited
• Hiscox Insurance Company Limited
• Hiscox Syndicates Limited
• Acromas Insurance Company Limited
• Liberty Insurance Limited
• Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance PLC
• The Salvation Army General Insurance Company Limited

You will note that both Chubb and Hiscox are in the top scale of 97.5% to 100% when it comes to meeting claims. We are pleased to say that, here at AIB Insurance, they are two of the companies that feature highly on our panel of insurers when it comes to arranging buildings and contents insurance for our high net worth clients.

On the 25th January 2017, the first publication of the General Insurance value measures data – year ending 31 August 2016 was produced. On that day, James Bridge, Assistant Director, Head of Conduct Regulation, Association of British Insurers, said:
“Every day home insurers pay out over £8 million in claims to customers, and are committed to doing all they can to ensure that insurance delivers when the worst happens. The FCA data shows that the vast majority of claims are paid out.”

https://www.abi.org.uk/news/news-articles/2016/12/fca-value-measures-response/

When AIB Insurance recommends an insurance company to a client, we take several things into consideration such as price, claims experience and the quality of the customer service. So, if you are looking for home insurance or, indeed, any other insurance cover why not give us a call on 02380 268 351 to discuss your requirements with an experienced, friendly member of our team who will arrange to provide you with a competitive quotation. We look forward to being of assistance to you.

Flood Re Confirms Authorisation

Flood REWe are delighted to confirm the Flood Re scheme has received authorisation by both the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) from 1 April 2016 and AIB have been signed off as competent, ready to go from the 6th April 2016.

As such, we will go live with the scheme with effect from 6th April 2016 with Flood Re expecting up to 350,000 households to benefit from the government led initiative.

Earlier this month, Flood Re CEO Brendan McCafferty told members of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Insurance and Financial Services that the scheme had two issues to solve before it would be authorised by the PRA.

McCafferty commented: “I am delighted that we now have authorisation from the regulators. The Flood Re team is continuing to work hard with insurers ahead of launch.

Flood RE“From 4 April, Flood Re will be live and ready to accept policies. A list of insurers that will be using the scheme will be available on the Flood Re website from the evening of Friday 1 April.”

McCafferty has repeatedly urged brokers to get ready for the scheme and AIB have invested time and money to make sure we are well positioned to provide the cover.

Nigel Gould of AIB said, “We were aware some insurers were making the Flood Re proposition available through their direct channels first, which would have put us on the back foot. As such, we have invested heavily and believe we are perfectly placed to provide our clients the most suitable options and offerings if they live in a flood risk area.

Flood Re is a new way to help people who live in flood risk areas get affordable home insurance. It launches on April 4th 2016. It is not a home insurer itself – instead it works behind the scenes with existing insurance companies.

Flood Re helps insurers offer more affordable flood insurance to those in areas at risk of flooding. It will mean people can shop around more easily to find policies with more affordable premiums and excesses. The scheme will develop over time so people should find they have even more choice in the future.

Call us now on 02380 268351 or click here: https://www.aib-insurance.co.uk/news/aib-launch-flood-re-scheme