2009-06-18

By Editor, CIR

Businesses awaiting payment of an insurance claim would receive interim bridging payments under an agreement being hammered out with major insurers.

The pact was announced this week by the Association of Insurance and Risk Managers (AIRMIC) at its annual conference in Bournemouth. It is still "agreement in principle" between AIRMIC and seven insurers, but is expected to be finalised by the autumn.

AIRMIC's chief executive John Hurrell said it had become clear in recent months that banks were withdrawing bridging finance, with major cashflow implications for member companies. So the Association had launched the initiative earlier this year, in partnership with the Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters (CILA) and claims adjustment firm Crawford.

Tracy Jones, technical claims manager for Zurich Financial, one of the seven insurers signing up to the agreement, said it would impact on large commercial claims. Although insurers had proved willing in the past to provide interim payments, there was a need "to provide more claims certainty".

The other six insurer insurers working with AIRMIC are ACE Ltd., AIG UK Ltd., Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, AXA Corporate Solutions, RSA Insurance Group and XL Insurance.

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