Letter of the month - A few questions raised over 'Claims and the broker'

Having recently heard the Broker Management Forum debate 'Claims and the broker', it would have been useful to have someone there to represent insurers (no insurer that was contacted was willing to take part - Ed).

However, I'm glad to see you are at last raising the serious concerns that I mentioned to you months ago. I would have taken part but was engaged in a major claim at the time. There are a few questions about this trend that are still worth pondering.

Firstly, how can brokers place the cover - charge either commission or a fee for that, then charge again for offering a claims service? What happens in the event that there has been a mistake with the cover? Is the broker's claims team going to advise the clients to sue the broker? I think not.

How can the insured be given impartial advice under these circumstances?

The one interesting point that does come out of this trend, if one accepts - which I and many others don't - that at last the market has realised that the adjuster is not impartial and that the claimant does require, and should be given or at least offered, the services of an impartial claims expert.

Perhaps for another day you might raise the issue of why insurers in many countries - but not the UK - offer to their insured claims prep cost as an add-on to their business interruption policy?

By doing that in a controlled way we would rid our industry of the one-man-band loss adjusters that try to be all things to all men!

Nick Balcombe, Balcombe Group.