Online Insurance Trading for SME'S

Online trading for SMES is becoming more common with 1/3rs of those companies choosing to purchase their insurance online, now do so out of office hours.

With progression of technology going at a frightening pace with 'smart' phones each in their own classes, with different platforms and models, just getting a website to fit and work on them is a bit of a mission, business apps are also becoming very important for those directors and officers of a company on the move.

To write the computer code to fit all these phones and link in with the Quote & Buy websites, and collect money for the insurance policies is no small task. There are a group of SME Insurance covers that are now very much available from both smart mobile phones and websites where policy documents can be sent directly to the clients computer confirming covers, and issuing full policy details.

The type of policies currently available on mobile phones are Professional Indemnity insurance.

Public Liability with regards to Quote & Buy at low cost insurance policies via websites, you can obtain such covers for office, commercial combined, charities and trustees/Directors and Officer, landlord, Professional Indemnity, Public Liabilities and many more covers are now becoming available even Cargo Insurance and night club, restaurant cover is being conducted 'online'.

Insurance Claims in respect to Professional Indemnity

There has been a recent increase of claims in respect to professional indemnity insurance for various professions particularly solicitors PI and independent financial advisors. In addition the banks who have miss sold an awful lot of policies via their insurance services sections where they have been suggesting compliance and offering them a personal injury and redundancy plans etc which were completely wrong for many of those clients.

It probably hasn't gone past anybody's notice of recent weeks where massive amounts of both television and radio advertising is encouraging people to make claims if they have taken out one of these plans. This will only cumulate into claims being made against professional indemnity insurance policies.

The fact remains that these insurance plans should never have been sold in the way that they were and that both banks and some (but very few) brokers targeted people and coerced them into purchasing policies that either didn't fit the circumstance or were in fact totally wrong. When it comes to treating customers fairly this has not been adhered to in the promotion of these plans.

It is therefore reasonable to assume that insurers who have covered various businesses that sold these plans with professional indemnity, can expect some big claims to be made.

There is also a consideration here that many of the brokers or organizations that sold these plans and had PI insurance in place, may very well have excesses to pay themselves.

The moral of the story here is that anyone selling insurance services, should not necessarily be put under pressure to sell a particular product and clear definitions and explanations should always be given to a client before they purchase such a policy.

How does treating customers fairly impact on Professional Indemnity (PII) TCF

There has been a great deal of talk about treating customers fairly over the years, with the FSA heading up an aggressive campaign to insure that its rules were meet in this arena.

We all of course need to have definitions and explained criteria for TCF which were not always clear and maybe just a little over the top when it came to 'smaller brokers'.

So some years on has TCF helped the clients we deal with? Has it made an impact? It would be fair to say that TCF has helped both clients and brokers alike, setting a standard for us to offer as an industry, however many of the set out rules were totally unnecessary and over the top. Simple rules to abide and police would have been the answer.

With regards to Professional Indemnity insurance claims over this period directly related to TCF have not been a problem for brokers and the cost for Professional Indemnity insurance has not increased in the broker sectors, although it would be fair to say that perhaps in other areas such as banking and the motor industry where insured products have been sold, Professional Indemnity insurance claims have increased and rightly so.

Professional Indemnity rates still low 2011

Apart from the obvious high rated professions such as solicitors, independent financial advisers and survey valuation companies, the general rates for Professional Indemnity insurance have remained very low or static even for professions such as accountants and architects. The most competitive prices and costs with good policy definitions and clear explained (PII) wordings are miscellaneous professions such as IT consultants, business consultants and management consultants, the wordings for these classes have also been improved by some Insurers and provides Professional Indemnity insurance covers with any one claim and low excesses. PII brokers are also able to obtain worldwide cover including USA & Canada with low policy excesses.

Director of Professional Insurance Agents ltd, Graham Hearsey states that even though cheap and low prices are readily available for many classes on Professional Indemnity, that this would be a real danger to insurers and underwriters and that prices should clearly harden to meet possible claims

The War in Libya & Liberation of Tripoli/Insurance Claims

It is of course fantastic news that the people of Libya & Tripoli have managed to almost gain their freedom to rule the country in a democratic way, and we wish them the very best for the future with hopefully no more bloodshed or in fighting.

There has of course been a terrible human loss and massive property damage in Libya but of course if a Libyan had taken out a standard worded insurance policy either for life or property they may well find that the insurance policy would not be able to respond to any claims based on a terries & war exclusion that the insurance policy may have had.

Naturally it will be very difficult to obtain a policy wording placed in the London market where brokers would be able to now offer without large exclusions for those Libyan companies or people who want to obtain insurance or anywhere in the Middle East at present.

Brokers would also find  that if they were able to get a policy, the cost would be very high and certainly not cheap.

Going forward brokers should always now be careful as to how their clients are presented with the policy covers and exclusions or they could easily find themselves with a Professional Indemnity Insurance claim, from a client who has not been given correct definitions or explained in detail the problems that having a war and terrorist exclusions brings with it.