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2010 ANZIIF TurksLegal Claims Scholarship
Joe Willis tells us more about his 2009 Scholarship win:
What would you say to fellow professionals who are considering entering the scholarship this year?
The scholarship provides a wonderful opportunity to broaden understanding on a particular topic of interest. For the successful candidate, it provides a further opportunity to attend an international conference and obtain an understanding of the operation of claims from a global perspective. It allows you to appreciate your place in the insurance industry but not be confined by it.
It was an honour to be selected and attend the Claims Conference in Texas as the ANZIIF TurksLegal Claims Scholarship winner. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting other claims professionals, attending the sessions and representing TurksLegal and ANZIIF.
How has winning the scholarship assisted your professional development?
I have had the opportunity to make contact with claims professionals overseas and have also identified a number of good innovations in the claims process which are not currently available in the Australian market.
Writing the paper encouraged me to communicate my own opinions and draw upon my professional and personal experiences to formulate a response to my chosen question.
Why did you enter the 2009 scholarship?
The ‘Claims Scholarship’ flyer circulated by ANZIIF immediately grabbed my attention. I had not seen the word ‘Claims’ and ‘Scholarship’ used together before and it was a welcome surprise to see a concept which not only acknowledged but promoted claims personnel.
The role of claims personnel is often undervalued. Claims personnel are required to produce prompt and accurate results in often stressful financial and emotional situations. The scholarship provided a rare opportunity to recognise those involved in the claims area.
I was motivated to submit an application for the Scholarship as all the topics nominated by TurksLegal and ANZIIF were very relevant to current issues and events confronted by claims consultants.
The concept of an award that values personal experience, opinion, creativity and independent research on claims was also appealing.
Why did you choose the topic ‘The Importance of Early Resolution and Payment of Claims’?
This topic provided the broadest scope to explore the elements of a successful claim where ‘successful’ means much more than claim payment.
The topic specifically requested comment in relation to disaster situations such as the severe storms in North Queensland in January 2009 and the bushfires in Victoria in February 2009. I have been involved in a multitude of claims associated with both events and felt I could provide some valuable insight based on my own personal experience.
As a result of my experience representing the Insured and previous experience representing the Insurer, I felt I could present a balanced view of the importance of prompt claim payments from both perspectives.
In addition to my personal experience, the topic encouraged me to conduct additional research to broaden my understanding of the issues.
What were the key highlights of the conference you attended?
Perhaps the most significant highlight was an appreciation of how fortunate I am to be involved in the Australian claims industry. While our industry is complex there are many issues we are lucky we do not have to confront on the same scale as the American market.
For example, not only is the American claims process subject to heavy government regulation but these controls often vary from State to State! Claims personnel must be familiar with the rules relevant to each State in which they operate.
The regulations control many aspects of the claim process:
- Some states have regulations which govern the time period in which an Insurer must respond and provide information to an Insured.
- Bad faith legislation differs from State to State.
- In some States it is illegal to send a Letter of Denial to an Insured without explanation.
During discussions with a solicitor I explained that, in my experience, we do not have such a high degree of government control and our market is largely self-regulated with each Insurer having its own Internal Disputes process. Quite a contrast!
The claims process in America also appears to be much more aggressive, adversarial and litigious. The advice often given to Insurers / loss adjusters was to assess claims promptly and make progress payments at the earliest possible opportunity to avoid accusations they have unduly delayed and possible demands for damages. Damages can be awarded based on a multiple of the original claim! While not always the case, a spirit of co-operation and conciliation seems much more apparent in the Australian claims market.
Another highlight was the realisation that it is possible to travel to the other side of the world and share similar experiences, stories and issues with others involved in claims. The event may be called hurricanes instead of cyclones or wild fires instead of bush fires but issues such as the emotional response from an Insured, time management, associated natural disasters and claim verification are common.
An innovation used in America which I have not seen in Australia is the use of internet based services for the assessment of property claims. Several companies provide a subscription based service which includes not only building rates but current replacement values for contents. It allows an assessor to plot a plan of a building on their computer, nominate the construction materials, place the contents items such as furniture, lighting, decorations, etc with detailed descriptions in the plan and the software then generates a replacement cost. Current replacement costs are automatically downloaded monthly.
Had it not been for the Scholarship win I would not have visited San Antonio, Texas. The Scholarship provided a wonderful opportunity to visit a part of the States I would not otherwise have seen.
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