Lessons the insurance industry learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic

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In the latest episode of the Insurance Post Podcast, titled Lessons the insurance industry learnt from Covid-19, Mervyn Skeet, interim director of general insurance policy at the Association of British Insurers, said the industry was focused on the clarity of policies moving forward from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Skeet said: “That is what the industry is about. Learning from things that happen and moving forward.”

Lee Watts, director of technical claims at Allianz Commercial, said the number of claims received by the industry when the Covid-19 pandemic struck, and the number accepted, painted “quite a damning picture” of the industry, but the steps taken today to communicate more clearly during the cost-of-living crisis showed that lessons had been learnt.

Watts said: “Throughout the pandemic – and since – we have tried to be as proactive as possible [at communicating] when there are challenges affecting the market.

“An obvious example, at the moment, would be the challenge around underinsurance and the length of indemnity periods. It is making sure policyholders are clear they need to check those elements of cover rigorously to make sure they don’t get short-changed when they make a claim.”

Reflecting on the fact that the rules for the first lockdown forced insurers to work from home, Bart Patrick, chief revenue officer at Genasys, said the Covid-19 pandemic had also shown insurers that some roles did not require individuals to be in the office five days per week.

During the podcast, the trio also discuss what the industry got right in helping policyholders during those unprecedented times, and what insurers got wrong when the government told everyone to stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives.

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