In response to Mactavish research, Willis UK & Ireland have launched the Willis Client Academy, a series of free training workshops aimed at supporting insurance buyers across the UK. The Mactavish Corporate Risk and Research Report, released in March 2011 identified serious deficiencies in the insurance placement process which pose a real threat to UK businesses. The Willis Client Academy aims to mitigate this threat by helping insurance buyers develop confidence and expertise in key areas of risk and insurance, enabling them to manage their businesses’ risks and insurance programmes more effectively.

(This article was first published by the Financial Times Non-Executive Directors’ Club -  www.non-execs.com)

In this webcast, Berrymans Lace Mawer LLP (BLM) partner Helen Grimberg provides a summary of the Mactavish report – Corporate Risk and Insurance: the case for placement reform. She discusses the proposed reforms and explains how the report makes excellent use of research interviews with insurance buyers, brokers and underwriters. You can read more and view the webcast here.

“Willis applauds Mactavish’s continued tenacity in challenging the status quo and shining a torch on the fact that we as an industry must be better at demonstrating the immense value insurance provides in supporting businesses. As a change leader, Willis endorses the study’s findings which are in line with our drive to challenge inefficient insurance practices and lead reform through innovation such as our unique carrier benchmarking tool, the Willis Quality Index.”

“The Mactavish report raises challenges for the insurance sector that Zurich is committed to addressing. We look forward to working with brokers and customers to drive forward its recommendations.”

“The intellectual integrity and market-wide experience that underpins Mactavish’s Placing Reform Report has resulted in a robust, pragmatic paper which clearly points the way forward for our industry. AXA Corporate Solutions supports the findings of this report which closely mirror our own long standing belief that customers, brokers and insurers must work together in a more informed and co-operative manner than is currently the case. Our confidence in the pertinence of the report is perhaps best evidenced by the fact that a number of our Client Commitments, such as ‘scenario testing’ policy wordings, are based on the report’s findings.”

“The placement reform report flags a number of tough yet fundamentally addressable challenges. Aviva Corporate & Speciality Risk (CSR) will be working with clients and brokers to address the report findings and by including them within the Aviva CSR value proposition.”

“The Mactavish report identifies a series of issues around the insurance placing process. What stands out is that these issues appear now to be taking place against a background of dynamically changing risk exposures within insurance buyers’ organisations. Under English insurance law the responsibility for making a fair presentation of the risk falls squarely on the insurance buyer. A failure to do so can put the entire insurance protection at risk. The ultimate objective for all parties in the insurance transaction - buyers, brokers and insurers - should be certainty as to the agreed risk transfer. That is the best way to avoid disputes which are costly, time consuming and serve none of their interests. If the Mactavish Protocols are adopted even in part then insurance buyers are likely to stand a better prospect of getting claims paid when they need it most - at the critical time of a major loss.”