On June 27, AON’s Claims department held the event “Solutions and Commitments in Impact Claims” at Club Monteverdi in Madrid. In the three roundtables, Allianz, Zurich, Atlantica, Asevasa and BHSI participated in addition to MGR.
AON Broker Claims hosted an event last June 27 that was attended by nearly 70 people among clients, broker officers and other industry guests. Under the heading Impact Claims Solutions and Commitments, three roundtables discussed topics such as successful handling of an impact claim, transparency and other underwriters’ commitments during claims processing, as well as international claims solutions.
José Carlos Nájera, Deputy General Manager of Loss at MAPFRE Global Risks, was part of the first roundtable: Processing of Loss in Solar Project, together with Cristina Estrada, Risks Manager of Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure and Juan Revilla, Real Estate Director, Claims Professional Services, Aon Spain. José Ma. Navas, Chief Claims Officer, Aon España, acted as moderator, and chronologically presented the international insurance program designed by Atlantica with the collaboration of AON, with an insurance panel with a local fronting and an insurance/reinsurance panel coordinated by MAPFRE.
It was presented as a case of success where a technically complex claim had been resolved in a record time, with a high economic impact and sophisticated operation in its processing, typical of the structure of the international program itself of which the affected policy was a part.
Participants put forward the most important challenges:
- Technicians: They are often very obvious, “everyone sees them” in the insurance world: Quick action to mitigate economic losses, analysis and discussion on the cause of the claim and its coverage under the policy, complexity and discussion on the calculation and adjustment of losses, especially complex in this incident due to the loss of profit.
- Financial: They are often very important to the customer, although insurance policies are rarely mentioned. In a finance project like this one, its viability depended on receiving the insurance indemnification in a timely manner.
- “Positioning”: A program with a complex reinsurance schedule, issued in a country thousands of kilometers away through a fronting company. The coordination carried out by MAPFRE to align the needs and interests of all parties, as well as its flexibility to adapt to the circumstances arising from the adjustment and settlement process, were key to classing its processing as a success.
In addition, the following keys to success were listed. We highlight some:
- Fast and transparent action.
- Flowing information.
- Good internal coordination in Atlántica and through regular meetings with experts and with Aon.
- Technical collaboration in the study of the cause of the claim (high technical qualification).
- Choosing a Good Expert Firm with Local Support.
- A proportional and reasonable claim, which contributes to generating trust. Agility in recognizing coverage and prompt execution of an initial partial payment even with significant ongoing discussions.
- Leadership of the insurance board to advance the file without delay.
- Willingness to negotiate the adjustment of the claim with quick responses to the detection of expert difficulties.
- Agility in final settlement despite difficulty recovering reinsurance funds.
The second roundtable was named Transparency and other commitments and consisted of:
- Rogerio Lopes, Regional Head of Claims, Allianz Commercial Iberia.
- Meritxell Saez, Head of Commercial Insurance and Expert Claims, Zurich Europe AG (Spain).
- Javier Villalba, Claims Manager Spain of BSHI, and Emilio Palanco, Director Madrid, Claims Management Services of AON Spain.
The third and final roundtable dealt with natural disasters: The importance of claims preparation at CatNat International and escalation processes. The following people were part of it:
- Martin Thomas, Chief Claims Officer & Global Claims Dispute Resolution, Aon Commercial Risks.
- Michael Sgarlata, EMEA Practice Leader/Property & Cyber Claims Preparation, Aon Commercial Risks.
- Jose I. Gabaldón, Technical & Commercial Director of Asevasa – Aon Consulting Services.