CILA Technical Conference 2011

The Conference was opened by Andrew Homewood who highlighted the achievements over the past twelve months which included considerable technical guidance issued by the Institute following the riots in August, the increase in Special Interest Group members and the successful SIG review.

The Certificate level qualification had been successfully launched as had the Guide to Professional Conduct. All these achievements were in line with the Institute’s strategy to which incoming President Simon Burley affirmed his support announcing plans for a younger members’ forum with direct access to the President and Executive Director.

This year’s conference had plenty of technical nuggets designed to provoke debate and promote interest in the matters that influence the membership. Whether presenting claims for Claimants, handling complex Business Interruption losses or investigating claims that had indications of fraud there was something for everyone. The latter session, which included a discussion of some of the latest case law by Graham Eklund QC, was so popular that there was standing room only.

An afternoon session was dedicated to negotiation skills, a critical part of a loss adjusters role. Dr Shelagh Courtenay-Smith led this session covering a number of worked examples.

The second day featured an interactive major loss seminar, designed to engage adjusters of all levels. Formed into six pre-selected teams, encompassing most of the institute’s Special Interest Groups, a lively, educational and entertaining virtual claim was worked through in the packed conference room.

After a period of five years of relative peace and harmony, disaster had struck Claims Town once again. Mike Roberts, the Claims Manager for CILA Insurance Co sought MD/BI & Liability adjusters to form specialist teams to consider the ensuing commercial losses involving Buildings, Machinery & Plant, Stock & Business Interruption.

He was on notice that one Insured Party had engaged a Chartered Loss Adjuster as its claims advocate. In addition the disaster had led to a number of severe burn casualties and several fatalities both in and outside of the work place; coupled with a pollution problem. Lastly, a domestic cover involving a potentially fraudulent fine art claim also had to be considered.

The scenario produced a very lively debate and was highly engaging. Each group was asked to present their findings to Mike Roberts, the CILA Insurance Co Claims Manager, and he judged the best of the presentations to be that of the High Net Worth team, who won a case of wine for their efforts.

Overall the conference had a superb technical basis, which attracted many of the Institute’s younger and newly qualified adjusters with the opportunity to network. The plans continue for 2012 Olympic year conference.

Presentations from the Conference can be downloaded below.

Conference Presentations

• Opening Address from CILA President, Andrew HomewoodThe President opened the Conference by looking at Membership & Examinations, the Special Interest Groups, Strategic Planning and other topics.
• Number crunching: estimating trends in Business Interruption claims - Jonathan Samuelson, Harris Balcombe & Steve Thompson, KPMGWhose numbers count most, and should we always begin at number 1? This session considered the sources of evidence in considering BI losses and the relevance of the policy wording in the process.
• Property SIG - Contribution - James Deacon, Beachcroft LLP & Luke Exford, VRS VericlaimThe latest developments in Contribution affecting all adjusters, coupled with a general review of the topic.
• Professionalism: Duty Does Matter - Martyn GabbitassA look at the current approach to professional indemnity claims handling including a case law update.

+ Download Speaker's Notes for this Presentation

• The Insurance Fraud Register - What, Why, When - Richard Davies, Group Fraud Risk Manager, AXA UKRichard Davies presented on the behalf of the ABI Financial Crime Committee a proposal to set up a database of proven fraudsters, which can be accessed for risk management and loss reduction purposes at any point in the insurance lifecycle.
• There’s More To Counter Fraud Than Red Flags - A CEO’s Viewpoint - John Eves, Managing Director, Thornton & PartnersThe speaker cast a critical eye over the current iteration of counter fraud activity. He presented some observations on operational and strategic shortcomings, as well as suggestions on some new points to consider in major loss cases.
• Cloud Computing: Changing Nature of Risk in the 21st Century - Clive Nicholls, Senior Vice President, Global Markets, Crawford & Company

  Change is insidious by nature. It happens every day such that we don’t even realise its happening. A few years ago Loss Adjusters had little or no occasion to deal with losses related to computers or data contained within them. Now we walk around with smart phones with more computing power than took man to the moon. We are entering an era where servers are virtualised, data storage is optimised potentially across many pieces of hardware storage and maybe even in different countries.

  How well are we and for that matter our insurer clients prepared to deal with the changed risk of data storage as regards jurisdiction, privacy, ownership, governance and liability? The very real prospect of loss in one location with consequences in another territory with liability that is not transferable under statutory obligation should at the very least be something we are aware of. The nature of supplier contracts and how they impinge on those within the Cloud Computing supply chain should be looked at in the context of the risk transfer so that when we do receive the instruction to deal with the claim, we can be seen to add real value to our clients.

Click here for information on last year's Technical Conference