An inside look at the future of claims
Lloyd’s provided an inside look into how the market has adopted new technology to improve claims processes during a virtual event for distribution partners in Canada.
26/10/2020
Marc Lipman, President of Lloyd’s Canada, gathered members of Lloyd’s claims team – including Carey Bond, US Head of Claims, Martin Canavan, Technical Claims Manager, and Zoe Woods, Claims Improvement Manager – to discuss strategies for dealing with claims arising from large scale disasters.
On average Lloyd’s pays out half a billion pounds in claims every week – and that number has increased as the market responds to COVID-19 claims across many different classes of business and policies. In total Lloyd’s expects to pay out up to £5bn (US$6.4bn / CAN$8.6bn) in COVID-19 claims.
“As the insurance sector responds to an increasing number of claims, it is essential to identify ways to harness technology that can make claims processing simpler and quicker,”Mark Lipman
The Future at Lloyd’s strategy, for example, is aimed at identifying ways to use digital solutions that triage and route claims, automate decision-making for the simplest claims, and assists with handling complex claims.
Claims never stop. But what we have found is that – despite the onset of COVID-19 – the insurance sector has proved resilient and continues to respond in new ways.”Carey Bond
Woods and Canavan both went on to explain how their work has been inspired by the Future at Lloyd’s vision. “We have been working hard to come up with solutions to make the [claims] process better for everyone,” said Canavan.
One tool that Lloyd’s uses as part of this wider effort to revolutionise claims is McKenzie Intelligence Services (MIS). MIS helps Lloyd’s to understand the aftermath of major catastrophes by analysing data from sensors in space, and in the air, as well as from Internet of Things (IoT) and ground-based devices, providing information about the scale of damage immediately after a disaster strikes.
“We have designed a solution that is flexible enough to incorporate new technology and advanced satellite imagery.”Zoe Woods.
Over the last six months, Lloyd’s has used MIS to make damage assessments virtually from events such as the Beirut port explosion and the Californian wildfires. This has enabled the market to pay out claims more quickly than ever. Canavan shared an example of how the team analysed the recent Beirut blast to assess the total radius of damage. “It’s a really fantastic triage tool in coordinating catastrophe responses from an exposure management perspective,” Martin said.
MIS has a network of drone operators which allows users to access drone imagery that provides an extensive picture of on-the-ground damage before and after a catastrophe.
“MIS proves that we have the ability to access top-level technology and data no matter where we are in the world,” Bond said.
“Claims is such a personal experience that we have to make sure we are providing the best value and up to date data to our policyholders,” Woods added. “We bring people and technology together to make a real difference in decision-making.”
All the sessions, as part of Lloyd’s Canadian Roadshow, are designed to provide Lloyd’ market participants with an overview of Lloyd’s priorities as well as new and developing products in the market and insight into underwriting and claims scenarios. A list of the dates and topics for the upcoming sessions is available here.