Any Future for Claims Business ?

France is very often considered as one of the world’s most developed insurance markets, ranking fifth globally by premium concerns, with a gross volume of €210 billion. Within Europe it is seen as the second largest insurance market after the UK, according to the FFSA.

Reasons for that are not only that the French people always have been big believers in insurance, and that fear of losses is one of their 1st in row favorite nightmares.

I would rather say that compulsory (by law) insurance has reached such an extend in so many sectors in France, that it is getting quite impossible to properly run a business or an activity, or even your own personal life without having proper and adequate Insurance coverage in place, not only to protect you, but also to protect any third party from your own negligence or misconduct even if involuntary.

When purchasing a policy or a specific coverage, should you be a simple/single home owner, or a major jumbo firm in the Industry, and this leads to the topic of the large risks industry, the main purpose of your purchase is not just to have the most perfect coverage wording of the world for the cheapest price or even for a cost effective price.

The main expectation of such a purchase can also be to build the hope, that if anything disastrous strikes you, you may be properly and accurately considered, treated and indemnified by your Insurance Carrier.

Too much simplistic would you revert.

Perhaps, Yes, but is this that far from day to day reality?

From Mrs MICHU to MICHU corp SA, aren’t their expectations to be able to recover decent money when home or premises are devastated by a Tsunami in Corsica, or by hail in the moonlight of Maubeuge ?

When the large risks industry has been historically purchasing coverage for property, liability, motor, marine, financial lines, accident and health, now Cyber, and perhaps also tomorrow to cover space trips to Saturn or defective iron ore purchased out of Pluto.

Isn’t it mainly in the perspective and hope of getting some assistance and money back when some unpleasant circumstances strike them?

This is one of the main reasons why customer service has to be the hearth and main concern of Insurance carriers when leading with Claims activity, and perhaps with even more caution when it comes to major Risks or catastrophes.

Even if some carriers have in the past shown signs that they had forgotten or put aside such customer service focus, it is obvious now that the trend is being reversed, and that customer-first-centric strategies are more and more marketed for a couple of years.

Brokers, TPA service providers, loss adjusters, and even lawyers had understood this ever since. It seems that customer-centricity is now also hopefully starting contaminating Insurance Carriers, from Major ones, to “niche” coverage providers.

Such concerns have lead Major Insurance coverage providers, to grow, to merge, to restructure, to make their offices more “flex” and “friendly” ( to whom ?) in order to better embrace and be attractive to customers. New Digitalization means or ideas are also even seen as an opportunity to bring more humanity to customers, when there may be no humans at all behind it, which is quite strange.

What will be the future for Insurance business within a market such as France, so much keen and curious about new technologies, but also so deeply rooted in traditions and security ? I am not able to predict.

Let us just wish that Technology will help Insurance to elevate humanity and not to submit it.