Review
The business – Amlin London
Client service
The quality of our product offering and the high level of client service provided is demonstrated by the significant percentage of renewal business produced each year and the continuity in our broker relationships.
The way in which we source business, through a chain of brokers, and the nature of the subscription market means we need to meet the expectations of both our broker intermediaries and the end customer. We keep a close watch on how brokers rate our performance and look to excel in areas that are important to them and the client.
Financial strength
Strong financial ratings have always been important to our counterparties, but particularly in the area of reinsurance. This has never been clearer than in the past year, with unprecedented economic turbulence and the financial difficulties experienced by a number of major participants in insurance markets. Amlin’s strong Insurance Financial Strength ratings from AM Best, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s mean that our clients can be confident in our ability to manage their risks and pay their claims.
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Experience and leadership
The nature of specialist insurance requires a depth of knowledge that is borne out of years of experience. Hence, as described in the People section of this Review, the experience of our underwriting teams is a key performance indicator. It is also a key differentiator to our peers. We continue to lead a significant proportion of the business that we write. This gives us primary control of the quality and speed of placement and claims service provided to brokers and their clients.
Underwriter access
Brokers and clients often cite underwriter access and speed of decision making as a key service differentiator. External feedback suggests that Amlin provides good access to its underwriters, who have the authority to bind risks, within agreed limits, without the need to refer to an underwriting committee. Our wordings specialists work closely with our underwriters to provide a fast response on placement and endorsements.
Policy issuance
The drive for full contract certainty, defined as the complete and final agreement of all terms between the insured and insurer before inception of the risk, has been a major focus in the London market in recent years. Amlin places a high level of importance on contract certainty and our operational statistics show that we consistently deliver in this area.
Claims service
Claims service is an area where we expect to compare favourably to our peers, particularly given the importance of our position as a lead underwriter in the market. Amlin is committed to fair, efficient and timely claims management and we are continuously looking at improvements to our systems and processes to ensure that brokers and clients receive a dedicated and competitive service. For example, we have been early adopters of the use of electronic claims files in London, compared to the old manual system.
We do not control the claims process from start to finish, relying on brokers and market shared services for some elements. We therefore view the speed of our claims turnaround as an important measure of our claims service. Our average claims turnaround time (from initial notification to agreement with broker) has reduced to 2.9 days, from 3.4 days in 2007.
In 2008, independent consultants Gracechurch conducted their biennial survey of the attitudes of 300 UK based placing brokers towards insurers in Lloyd’s and the wider London market.
We were ranked third for overall satisfaction across all service attributes and top rated on our financial strength and ability to pay claims, our commitment to working in partnership with brokers, our longevity/strong track record and speed of policy issuance.
Undoubtedly, there remains scope for improving client service by enhancing market practices and the quality and timeliness of shared services. We are committed to moving forward in this area and are pushing Lloyd’s and other market participants as appropriate.
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