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Conflict of interest

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  • 07-10-2017 4:46pm
    #1
    GM228
    Registered Users Posts: 8,922 ✭✭✭


    Just curious.

    Do insurance companies have any conflict of interests rules?

    For example an underwriter or claims assessor looking for insurance with their own insurance company, do they allow such?


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    #2
    wonski
    Registered Users Posts: 13,685 ✭✭✭✭wonski


    As long as they don't work on their own claims I don't see any conflict.

    I wouldn't be surprised if some employees got discount or a free policy as a part of their package.


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    #3
    Sue Pa Key Pa
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,060 ✭✭✭Sue Pa Key Pa


    Insurance staff are highly regulated as individuals. There is little scope for anything unethical and very strict rules on the handling of own policies. You wouldn't be allowed, for instance, do a temporary change of vehicles on your own policy or that of a family member.


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    #4
    NUTLEY BOY
    Registered Users Posts: 2,344 ✭✭✭NUTLEY BOY


    Also, this is exactly the kind of matter that both external and internal audit should pick up.

    I am not in the insurance world but I understand that those with various insurance qualifications and chartered titles are actually bound by formal codes of ethics and practice.

    Some insurance practitioners with whom I have dealt inform me that they fit in the practice of insurance around the heavy strangulations of compliance.


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    #5
    Sue Pa Key Pa
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,060 ✭✭✭Sue Pa Key Pa


    A simple example is that my PC leaves a trail of the time and date of every file that I have ever looked at, let alone altered. Someone involved in the Commercial Department, for instance, has no access to claim files. You will be pulled up by the compliance officer if any unauthorised use is attempted


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    #6
    coylemj
    Registered Users Posts: 25,457 ✭✭✭✭coylemj


    GM228 wrote: »
    Just curious.

    Do insurance companies have any conflict of interests rules?

    For example an underwriter or claims assessor looking for insurance with their own insurance company, do they allow such?

    At some stage in the 1980s, the Hibernian Insurance Co. (now part of Aviva Ireland) was moving their head office operation from an upper floor in Hawkins House to a newly rented premises on Haddington Road, opposite the '51' pub. A reasonably complex and potentially risky part of the move involved an IBM mainframe which had to be taken apart into manageable units, taken down the lift, transported to the new office and reassembled.

    As a precaution against any expensive accidents, the head of IT asked the brokers who acted for Hibernian to arrange insurance cover for the move. The move went smoothly so there was no claim but somebody discovered a few weeks later that the broker had arranged the cover with.... Hibernian Insurance!


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    #7
    Sue Pa Key Pa
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,060 ✭✭✭Sue Pa Key Pa


    coylemj wrote:
    As a precaution against any expensive accidents, the head of IT asked the brokers who acted for Hibernian to arrange insurance cover for the move. The move went smoothly so there was no claim but somebody discovered a few weeks later that the broker had arranged the cover with.... Hibernian Insurance!

    A Machinery Movement policy is a very specialised cover and Hibernian / Aviva would have been the market leaders along with RSA. A premium would have been paid like any other client. The risk would have been reinsured to spread any loss if it occurred.

    Insurers are large property owners and they usually take out co-insurance policies where a share of the cover is spread between a panel of local and international insurers


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    #8
    galwaytt
    Registered Users Posts: 12,776 ✭✭✭✭galwaytt


    Sue Pa Key Pa wrote: »
    Insurance staff are highly regulated as individuals. There is little scope for anything unethical and very strict rules on the handling of own policies. You wouldn't be allowed, for instance, do a temporary change of vehicles on your own policy or that of a family member.

    No they're not. I had the misfortune of being hit by a person working for an insurance company a few years ago. Wanted it sorted off the books, which was fine except when push came to shove she tried to force me to pay for car hire for her, despite she causing the accident. I said no, go through insurance and she wrote to me, as a claimant, from her work (insurance company) email to put pressure on me. Then left me dangling for an engineer for 7 weeks to assess my vehicle.....but magically her car was fixes and back on the road within a week of the accident.
    I refuted their assessor report as they never interviewed any of witnesses. Didn't do me any good : we were both insured by same company so i got screwed over.

    Fraudsters inside the industry too.

    Ode To The Motorist

    “And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, generates funds to the exchequer. You don't want to acknowledge that as truth because, deep down in places you don't talk about at the Green Party, you want me on that road, you need me on that road. We use words like freedom, enjoyment, sport and community. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent instilling those values in our families and loved ones. You use them as a punch line. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the tax revenue and the very freedom to spend it that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise I suggest you pick up a bus pass and get the ********* ********* off the road” 



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    #9
    galwaytt
    Registered Users Posts: 12,776 ✭✭✭✭galwaytt


    Sue Pa Key Pa wrote: »
    Insurance staff are highly regulated as individuals. There is little scope for anything unethical and very strict rules on the handling of own policies. You wouldn't be allowed, for instance, do a temporary change of vehicles on your own policy or that of a family member.

    No they're not. I had the misfortune of being hit by a person working for an insurance company a few years ago. Wanted it sorted off the books, which was fine except when push came to shove she tried to force me to pay for car hire for her, despite she causing the accident. I said no, go through insurance and she wrote to me, as a claimant, from her work (insurance company) email to put pressure on me. Then left me dangling for an engineer for 7 weeks to assess my vehicle.....but magically her car was fixes and back on the road within a week of the accident.
    I refuted their assessor report as they never interviewed any of witnesses. Didn't do me any good : we were both insured by same company sonic got screwed over.

    Fraudsters inside the industry too.

    Ode To The Motorist

    “And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, generates funds to the exchequer. You don't want to acknowledge that as truth because, deep down in places you don't talk about at the Green Party, you want me on that road, you need me on that road. We use words like freedom, enjoyment, sport and community. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent instilling those values in our families and loved ones. You use them as a punch line. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the tax revenue and the very freedom to spend it that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise I suggest you pick up a bus pass and get the ********* ********* off the road” 



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    #10
    wonski
    Registered Users Posts: 13,685 ✭✭✭✭wonski


    Sue Pa Key Pa wrote: »
    A simple example is that my PC leaves a trail of the time and date of every file that I have ever looked at, let alone altered. Someone involved in the Commercial Department, for instance, has no access to claim files. You will be pulled up by the compliance officer if any unauthorised use is attempted

    Like most companies do, I have a limited access to some files etc. Some I won't even be able to alter because I can't see them.

    Let's just say I sell tomatoes :D

    Not in insurance business anyway. Nothing special in your example tbh.


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    #11
    Sue Pa Key Pa
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,060 ✭✭✭Sue Pa Key Pa


    wonski wrote:
    Not in insurance business anyway. Nothing special in your example tbh.

    The consequences are different in that if you are found to be in breach of The Regulators protocols, you are unlikely to find an employer in the industry ever again


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