General Insurance News Articles

Despite some high-profile cases, insurance fraud is on the decline in the UK. That's in contrast to an overall rise in fraud.

CIFAS, the non-profit group that co-ordinates anti-fraud efforts across the private and public sectors, says it received 396 reports of bogus insurance claims during 2011. That's down by more than a quarter from 537 in 2010.

This isn't simply a case of fraud as a whole declining: Full Story

Two major insurers have been hit with massive fines for interfering with customer complaints.

Churchill and Direct Line both tampered with files that were due to be passed on to the Financial Services Authority. The changes were described as "inappropriate alterations" and involved staff acting without management authorisation adding details to the paperwork in a misguided attempt to make the files more complete. In one case a staff member forged the signatures of Full Story

An American man accused of insurance fraud has been acquitted by a panel of judges, one of whom decided to write his ruling in rhyme.

Although the defendant was convicted of depositing a false check from an insurance company, a conviction of a separate charge of insurance fraud was overturned on appeal. That led Justice J Michael Eakin of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to issue a six page ruling written entirely in rhyming verse.

It concluded:

"Sentenced on the other Full Story

European countries are considering introducing a standard guarantee scheme that applies in all EU member countries. But the logistics of how it would work, and the benefits for consumers, are still to be determined.

The EU already operates a system by which insurers from one country have the right to sell cover in all member countries. However, in countries making up a third of the population there is no guarantee scheme to protect customers against insurers going bust, while in the Full Story

A specialist insurer has been criticised by the Advertising Standard Authority for running sexist advertising.

Aaduki specialise in insurance for photographers and video operators. It ran an ad in Amateur Photographer magazine featuring a woman wearing only briefs, holding a camera over each breast. The ad carried the slogan "Confused and don't know where to look?"

Following a Full Story

Lloyds of London has declared 2011 the worst start to a year in the history of insurance.

The organisation runs a market for reinsurance, in which insurers take out protection against having to make unusually high levels of payout. Lloyds lost £697 million in the first half of 2011. It blamed this on an "unprecedented level of natural catastrophes" around the world including floods, tornadoes and earthquakes. The costs to insurers in that six months is already higher Full Story

A mobile phone network claims as many as half of people who take out mobile phone cover could be wasting their money.

Giffgaff surveyed 2,000 customers and found the majority did not realise their phone was covered by a home insurance policy. As a result, it estimated that 5.7 million people who have policies could be wasting a total of Full Story

The police and the insurance industry are to set up a special force dedicated to tackling insurance fraud.

The unit will be operated by the City of London Police, but funded by the insurance industry. Launching next year, it will involve 35 dedicated fraud detectives and support staff. Although based in the Economic Crime Directorate, a police department, the new unit will have access to wider London police resources.

The scheme will be funded for its first three years by the Full Story

Proposed changes to rules on the funding of care home places could lead to a new market for insurance against the cost of fees.

A government commission has drawn up plans by which most people will be responsible for the first £30,000 to £50,000 of any care home bills, after which the government will pick up the tab. Only those with few savings or assets will be exempted from the contribution.

While the commission report suggests people be encouraged to save for the Full Story

Figures released this week suggest a widespread increase in the excess charged by insurers on policy claims.

Analysts Defaqto looked at a range of insurance products and compared current deals to those of 2008. At that time one in four motor policies charged more than £75 excess when replacing a windscreen, but now almost half of companies charge such rates. Similarly, whereas a third of home insurance policies had an excess of £100 or more in 2008, half do so Full Story