Chapter 5 - Common Functions Within Insurance Organisations Flashcards
Supporting, the areas central to all insurance operations are called…
Operational functions
Operational functions are more ?????? Than principal functions
Specialist
The exact nature of insurance company will be divided by the nature of the products provided, give an example…
In life business, the actuarial team will have specialists in long term business, in motor the claims department will have detailed knowledge of motor industry.
The essential purpose of strategic planning is…
Set the business on a path of best performance
What are the principal functions?
- strategy and planning
- underwriting
- claims
- sales and marketing
- actuarial
- risk management
- investment management
- finance and treasury
What are the operational functions?
- legal and company secretarial
- compliance
- internal audit
- it and data management
- human resources
- facilities management
The strategy team usually in head office and report to…
Chief executive and finance director
In smaller firms the strategy will be set by….
Senior managers themselves
A company will use external strategy people when considering…
A new business,s perhaps in Asia
The strategy team will undertake projects for senior executives in …
New areas of business and or expansion
The sorts of things the strategy team consider with new business and or expansion is..
Supply and demand, cost, regulatory hurdles, staff availability and expertise, start up costs etc.
Planning tools strategy team will use will be a what….
SWOT analysis
The strategy team will look give and receive information when considering mergers and acquisitions, the sorts of things they look at will be…
- financial records
- sales
- claims profile
- staff numbers
- service contracts
- costs
- regulatory status
The information the strategy team will receive in regards to mergers and acquisitions will be extensive and they will often require a…
Data room. To be set up which all documents are placed. There may be a virtual room where electronic files are kept.
After considering all factors for a bid for a firm, an acquirer may offer or restate its bid. Will often include an element of…
Goodwill, which is the value of the intangible assets such as brand licensing and assets
The strategy team will look at what classes of business they are in and what they could potentially enter. The strategy team will do an Analysis of …
Competition, and the reasonable prospects, e.g of cross selling etc.
Analysis of classes of business will include whether a firm should…
Enter or close down a line of business.
If a firm decides to close down a line of business, this will allow them to…
Redeploy capital to areas where more profit can be made.
In regards to strategy focus, an insurer may decide that it is operating in countries where…
Not possible to grow the premium income.
The purchase of insurance relative to the number of potential buyers is known as…
Penetration.
If there is a penetration rate of 80% in the UK, what sort of Perentage could this be like in Asia?
5-20%
The strategy team will asses penetration in areas where they believe the firm has the ability to sell and service policies locally. This may mean…
Acquiring a local insurance firm as a platform for growth or making an application to the insurance regulator in the country to start up an operation.
Why might also in regards to strategic focus, a company decide to do business in other countries?
Spread their risk, e.g if catasrphic losses all in once place then business totally gone, whereas if spread about then they have less exposure.
Strategy focus will also consider what when working with other people?
Partnerships
A strategy for providing insurance on a white label basis is a form of strategic development that balances efficient sales with losing the…
Immediate brand recognition that a company may want.
In regards to partnerships and white labelling, an insurance company may lose its brand recognition, but this is likely outweighed by…
Being involved with a major outlet, for example John Lewis, BMW motor insurance etc
A partnership strategy common in insurance is to form networks of…
Firms that cooperate in managing multinational clients, in particular, insurance brokers are keen to offer an international service.
Partnerships multinationally between brokers allows smaller firms to…
Compete with larger international firms.
How is household legal expenses also a type of parnetship usually?
The household insurer might not have the legal expertise so the legal expenses will be provided by someone else, e.g DAS, Amtrust etc
In regards to strategy focus, firms may also look at outsourcing. (You know the advantages and disadvantages of this). The long standing strategy of claims management by outsourcing through loss adjusters whilst still continuing has developed into a broader …
Third party administrator role.
In regards to outsourcing, the third party administrator looks at all aspects of claims including appoint of loss adjusters, engineers, surveyors etc, managers the claim files, settles the claim and does all the stuff. Similar to who bluefin use which is…
Quit dell
The strategy team will look at advertising and marketing strategy. This is because an insurer must create interest in its products. Lyyods typically work through brokers however this is changing because…
Lloyd’s based insurers recruit marketting specialists to engage with clients and sponsorship and advertising campaigns are used to promote brand awareness.
Companies seeking to attract a younger group will use marketing techniques that appeal to the…
IT literate. Where use of logos and selling message are stylised for young people.
In regards to strategy focus, strategy team must look at whether to go through a broker or…
Direct
Most large scale commercial insurances are transacted through…
Brokers
Reinsurance is handled by specialist reinsurance brokers, or reinsurance divisions of large brokers (with certain expectations) where the reinsurer deals direct with the…
Ceding company
Primary market for motor is…
Insurance aggregators as 56% of new business
As private motor reaches maturity in aggregator market, the trend is now towards…
SMEs
The strategy team will also look at ???? Horizons.
Time
The strategy team will look at the time horizons for the strategy for the business. The starting position will be the plan for the fianincla year ahead, and three to five year plans. In 2012 Lloyd’s published their…
Vision 2025, a 13 year stategic plan
The longer the time horizon the…
Broader the plans
The business planning document, will look at classes…
Of business to be written
The business planning document will look at gross..
Premiums (before brokerage is applicable) for each class of business.
The business planning document will look at a profile of the gross premiums by…
Currency
The business planning will look at what spread?
Geographical
The business planning document will look at levels(percentage of gross premiums) to be paid in…
Brokerage
The business planning document will look at main sources of business split between…
Split by direct And estimated income through each broker.
The business planning document will look at an expense profile detailing staff costs, building and it costs …
Advertising budget, regulatory fees, outsourcing costs and general expenses
The business planning document will look at investment strategy and what other strategy?
Reinsurance
The business planning document will include a summary of…
Key changes to be included the plan for the year ahead.
What is a dialogue process?
Management of business unit will meet with the senior management of the head office to discuss the plans.
Draft plans will go through several looks at and..
Re drafts
The agreed business plans are reviewed in terms of the solvency and operational capital, risk, regulatory and corporate governance required to support the plan. Senior managers will consider the various levels of capital required for different plans and make decisions where the best return on capital can be achieved. Based upon a strategy that balances risk taking and reward. The final plans are…
Agreed for the coming year.
During the year the business plan is monitored, as is the business environment. Should any materiel opportunities become apparent then a re planning review review will…
Take place to assess the opportunity.
The essential role of the underwriting department is to …
Calculate the premiums to be charged for the risks to be insured.
Sufficent premium is required for profit and…
Covering claims
The underwriting department will be structured into….
Specialist areas such as property, liability, marine and motor.
Explain the underwriting hierarchy
From top to bottom
- director of underwriting
- head of department (e.g marine)
- class underwriters
- section supervisors
- underwriters
- assistant and trainee underwriters
The control of underwriting is through an underwriting …
Manual
The underwriting manual will look at areas like construction, location etc etc, and also when to discount and when to …
Load
The underwriter will calculate a what premium?
Pure risk premium
What is a pure risk premium?
The amount before expenses and profit and sometimes brokerage is added.
In life assurance, the underwriting manual, sometimes known as rifles contains premiums per £1,000 assured and again there are loadings and discounts such as….
Dangerous occupations, health conditions, and whether or not the proposer is smoker
Insurance quotations can be done on the Internet, over the phone,for commercial sometimes a proposal form or equivalent is required by the insured, this will have details such as what for a printing company?
- buildings, contents
- stock
- El
- PL and products
- directors and officers
- motor
- claims
Often quotations will be what by other people?
Peer reviewed
Im regards to underwriters quoting, needing information and negotiating with brokers, think of your own…
Job at bluefin
In addition to using in house staff, many insurance companies allow for some form of underwriting or policy administration to be carried out by outside entities. The aim is to…
Acquire business and reduce mangement expenses
Delegated authority can range from simple cover note book issuing to wider…
Transaction of business and authority
Often the policy wordings will have been specifically negotiated to fit a particular category of client e.g haulage contractors or hoteliers. These will be often referred to as ….
Schemes
The party to whom authority has been delegated is known as the …
Cover holder
An agreement called a ??????? ???????? Is set up between the parties, which sets out the scope and extent of the authority delegated to the cover holder.
Binding authority
Binding authorities are a particular important way of transacting business in the…
Lloyd’s and London markets
The attraction of schemes from the insurers point of view is that…
Flow of business arising from the tailored policy wording.
With regards to premiums under delegated authority, agents with underwriting authority may have a schedule of rates to charge, the premium may be quoted to the client without…
Any input from the insurance company.
Managing general agents are a type of…
Delegated authority arrangement whereby the MGA organisation not only holds the underwriting pen but also takes on other activities such as marketting, selling, admin. It does not however provide claims
MGAs can be independent or owned by either an insurance broker or insurer. Insurers create these facilities for a number of reasons. Typically the principals and staff of the MGA will have a specific expertise in a given sector, this means that the insurer can gain access to a stream of revenue without…
The expense of committing its own staff and resources.
Allowing an external company the authority of binding insurances of behalf of the company is not something to be taken,lightly and relies heavily on…
Trusted relationship
As the intermediary acts on behalf of the client, and sometimes on behalf of the insurer, setting out the delayed authority is…
Very important and must be made clear.
A line slip, although a form of deflated authority has a number of…
Different features and specific use.
A line slip is…
An agreement between an individual broker and a group of two or more insurers whereby each insurer or underwriter agrees to accept a pre agreed proportion of a specified type of insurance.
In regards to a line slip, general criteria for risk acceptance and terms and conditions are agreed at the outset between the insurers and underwriters and there is usually some form of pre agreed rating, pricing scheme for…
Premium calculation
The areas that are central to all insurance operations are called….
Principal functions
Risks placed on the line slip are usually notified to the supporting insurers via a monthly/quarterly/annually listing called a….
Bordeaux
Risks placed on the line slip are usually produced in bulk to reduce…
Costs
In regards to delegated authority and such, the insurer will appoint an external ???????
To review the files are in accordance with the binding authority.
Auditor
The underwriting performance will be compared with the plan, sometimes, daily schedules of new business written and policies renewed, together with claims reported, will be provided to the class underwriters and heads of department. A weekly underwriting ….
Committee meeting is had with the underwriters attending to look at income and claims development compared to expectations and then the summarised information is reviewed on a monthly basis.
The performance of the underwriting is discussed with ….
The strategy team to see if any deviations from the overall underwriting objectives and to asses whether the strategy needs to be reviewed and updated.
The role of the claims department is to ensure that…
When claims are made, the policyholder receives a fair and equitable settlement for their loss, in accordance with the contractual obligations of the insurance policy.
The job of the claims department is often one of managing expectations and protecting …
The good reputation of the company for fair dealing.
Work carried out in the claims department is highly specialised and requires specific training for the type of subject matter insured. A legal degree for example might help when dealing with claims under public liability policies. Claims handlers need not hold a qualification however as many of their skills are developed….
On the job
Claims management processes are written down and captured in a …
Claims manual
Similar to underwriting, there will be a claims…
Hierarchy
An important claims idea is the idea of first…
Response
In regards to claims, often a rapid response is required, so that …
Steps can be taken to prevent further loss, e.g repairs and stuff
Policyholders may not have the knowledge or resources to take immediate steps to secure their property and the assistance of the insurers claims advice and practical steps is…
Invaluable
After the initial advice concerning a loss and the steps taken to prevent further loss, the claims handler will seek additional information. Again this depends on the type of insurance but the overriding aim is to ensure…
That the claim is dealt with effectively and correct payments are made.
For property classes of insurance, the main role of the insurer is approving repair estimates and contracts for the replacement of damaged or lost goods or possessions. Certain types of loss can take a great deal of time to investigate and settle. In legal liability cases, such as directors and officers liability insurances, the insurer will provide…
Legal defence for the insured and allegations will be defended.
In life assurance, usually settled on…
Production of death certificate
The claims team will also make enruquires to satisfy themselves that no part of the claim is fraudulent or…
Exaggerated
Ultimately, the claims settlement will be settled within the terms of the policy, I,e the excess deducted from payments and any other conditions influencing the claim…
Taken into account.
Claims handler may need to seek authority to …what the claim?
Settle
Payments may be made directly to the policyholder or…
Directly to the building repair companies etc, legal advisers and so on. In addition may need to pay the fees of solicitors and loss adjusters.
The final claims settlement may include an element of salvage where damage goods or property is taken into ownership of…
The insurer.
The main focus of the sales effort is to…
Capitalise on the brand or reputation of the company.
The marketing department in an insurer is advised of the wider business and underwriting plans for the company and compiles a marketting plan designed to…
Attract customers who will purchase the policies the firm has to offer.
The marketting plan takes into account the decisions made on the what channels?
Distribution, direct or through a broker.
The marketting teams role may include the following:
- market research
- competitior research
- customer profiling, target markets or segmentation
- development of strategic marketting plans
- development of operational marketing plans
- advertising
- media relations
- public relations and sponsership
- product development
- relationship management including sales management and customer service
It is impossible to satisfy the needs of the whole market, or of a market segment, unless you know…
What those needs are
In the circle of what the marketting team does, this would be to..
- Identify target markets
- Formulate marketting strategy
- Control marketting operations
- ## Monitor the successes of products of services
Develop marketting plans
Market research that provides accurate market measurements (both present and future) is critical to…
Organisations success
An important part of market research is investigating the activities of…
Competitors
By combing information from government reports, trade association newsletters, independent company financial reports such as…, annual reports, commercial surveys, directories, industry experts, consultants and the media, an organisation can generate reasonbly accurate data about areas of the whole market.
Dun and Bradstreet
Advertising can be defined as…
Any form of impersonal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified organisation that must be paid for.