Reducing your claims costs with Claims Investigations
Claims management
Whilst the vast majority of claims are genuine, regrettably the insurance industry is a target for fraudsters. We have an obligation to all of our customers to ensure that we have processes in place to identify and investigate potentially fraudulent claims.
Fraudulent claims fall broadly into one of two categories: • Fictitious losses, incidents or injuries. • Exaggerated losses and/or personal injuries. Although opportunistic fraud is a continuing threat, we face an increase in organised, premeditated activity aimed at extorting significant sums from the Insurance Industry. An example of this is staged motor accidents where organised criminal gangs target innocent motorists and cause accidents which, on paper, appear to be the fault of the innocent motorist. Zurich achieved over £40 million savings by combating fraud across all lines of business in 2006. Over £10 million of this related to motor claims.
All of our claims staff are made aware of the risk that fraud poses to our customers and our business, and are encouraged to refer any suspicious claim to their local fraud co-ordinator. Many of these claims are referred to our Claims Investigation Unit, a team of 18 people dedicated to the investigation of fraudulent claims across all our products. Included in this is our team of highly skilled and motivated field based Claims Investigators, who utilise many techniques and have access to a wide variety of information to examine the authenticity of claims referred to them. At Zurich we take our responsibility of managing our customers’ claims seriously. We don’t want any party to be the target of fraudulent claims, and to have to bear the financial consequences. Our Claims Investigators are experts in investigation and associated legislation and have excellent insurance knowledge. They make on site visits, gather all available evidence and establish intelligence links, enabling them to make accurate assessments.
Zurich Global Corporate
The Claims Investigation Unit also includes a team of highly successful in-house investigators who use cognitive interviewing techniques to carefully consider the circumstances of claims referred to them. Additionally an Intelligence Team who use data matching techniques and links to a variety of Intelligence Sources to establish connections and fraud networks. Zurich is a member of the Insurance Fraud Bureau, who’s aim is to crack organised fraud. Through this association, we are able to circulate intelligence on fraud amongst the insurance community. We use professional, ethical, appropriate and legal methods to tackle fraud. In order to fight fraud, we have access to: • a panel of approved private investigators • our own legal advisors • solicitors who specialise in fraudulent insurance claims • a range of external specialists such as forensic scientists, forensic document examiners and forensic accountants. We run customer workshops to promote awareness and we use new and innovative ways of tackling fraud within our business. We simply cannot afford not to.
To find out how Zurich can help you, call your usual Zurich contact on 020 7648 3200. Alternatively, call your broker or visit our website www.zurich.com/ corporatebusiness
Zurich Global Corporate UK London Underwriting Centre, 3 Minster Court, Mincing Lane, London EC3R 7DD, England. www.zurich.com/corporatebusiness Zurich Global Corporate UK is a trading name of: Zurich Insurance plc. A public limited company incorporated in Ireland Registration No. 13460. UK branch registered in England and Wales Registration No. BR7985. Registered Office: Zurich House, Ballsbridge Park, Dublin 4 Ireland. UK Branch Head Office: The Zurich Centre, 3000 Parkway, Whiteley, Fareham, Hampshire PO15 7JZ. Authorised by the Irish Financial Regulator and subject to limited regulation by the Financial Services Authority. Details about the extent of our regulation by the Financial Services Authority are available from us on request. FSA registration number 203093. These details can be checked on the FSA’s register by visiting their website www.fsa.gov.uk/register or by contacting them on 0845 606 1234.
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