|
|
"The question is not whether the insurers demand too much information from corporate clients, but to what extent the policyholders are willing to provide the insurer with correctly prepared information", said Markus Michnick, Manager Middle Market Germany, Property and Casualty at XL Group, during a panel discussion at the Euroforum Liability 2013 conference. "Over the past 20 years I have observed that the more information that is provided over the internet, the less willing corporate clients are to provide insurers with properly prepared data."
Thomas Losch, Casualty Practice Leader for Germany and Northern Europe at insurer Chubb, agreed. "When I started my career in liability insurance, the insured company used to complete long questionnaires with proper risk information and send it back to the insurer. Companies used to understand the insurer's need for detailed information." These days are gone, Mr Losch complained.
One of the reasons why companies are more reluctant to provide detailed risk information is the relentless soft market, said Michael Hohmann, Global Head of Liability at Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty. "We have observed a certain trend in recent years. The easier it is for companies to buy insurance cover for specific risks the less active the risk dialogue between the insurance buyer and the insurer is."
Irene Hauschild, Head of Corporate Liability Insurance at Pallas Versicherung, the captive broker owned by the chemical and pharmaceutical giant Bayer, named other reasons why companies are reluctant to give detailed information. "As a stock-listed company there is a lot of information we simply are not allowed to give to the public, although the insurer would like to know it", she said. This includes forward-looking statements or information on new products a company has in the pipeline.
Ms Hauschild also criticised the way insurers evaluate the information provided by her company. "The way they assess the risks is not always to our liking", she said. "And it is not a good solution that as a result of detailed risk information the companies impose more exclusions or limit the sums insured as a thank you for our cooperative attitude."