Poor claims-handling causes concern for German insurance industry

Poor claims-handling and the outsourcing of this function is causing noteworthy concern for some business leaders, warned Hans-Jurgen Allerdissen, managing director at industrial and commercial insurance broker Deutsche Verkehrs-Assekuranz-Vermittlungs (DVA), and new head of Deutscher Versicherungs-Schutzverband (DVS)

Speaking to StrategicRISK, Allerdissen said: “The lessons learned here have not been positive over the past few years. Some insurers have outsourced their claims handling function to a separate company. If you were head of this company, one of your core goals would be to pay as little as possible.

“In addition, the relationship to the client, the customer, is in some aspects cut by this outsourcing. The underwriter is not an employee of the claims-handling company.”

As a result, ,there is a real danger that clients will not be served in a claims-handling situation in the way they expect, Allerdissen warned: “Situations may become more frequent if the common understanding over what is and what should be insured, which has always existed between the insured and insurer, is not there at claims-handling point.”