Director, Priority International Denis St Bernard
Caribbean news. The Jamaica Insurance Sector, based on 2009 statistics, was estimated at about Ja Billion or about 1/3 of all claims.
Under investigations since August 2013, is an insurance scam where Ja 0 Million was swindled. It involved 226 false claims involving 13 doctors and 5 lawyers. Fictitious persons are being placed in vehicles, especially PPV and injuries significantly inflated. Some Police and hospital workers are often heavily involved.
TRENDS IN THE INDUSTRY
Some locations on the island are hot-spots and other areas are being infected, with even staged accidents on the increase.
Some officers are bringing old accident reports to lawyers to ‘dig up’ cases and bring insurance claims.
‘The economy has been steadily declining, as a result, insurance companies will be seen as an easy target for fraud and therefore urgent proactive and collective action is required to address this, sighted St. Bernard, ex- principal / CEO of the Insurance College of Jamaica and CEO of Priority Group.
He went on to highlight that this situation, if left untamed, could have national impact, not only in the increases in motor insurance premiums, which would lead to more uninsured vehicles on our roads, but the possibility of local insurers withdrawing coverage, particularly on commercial vehicles. This would mean that the government would now have to step in, as the Insurer of last resort.
Priority Investigation Services, one of the largest claims services providers on the island, with 6 locations island wide and offices in the UK has embarked on an initiative working closely with renowned top cop Mark Shields and his Company SCSC to present measures to assist in reducing this trend in all related sectors in Jamaica and the Caribbean.
Both Mark Shields (SCSC) and Denis St.Bernard (Priority Group) will now be collaborating to address these and other challenges facing, not only the Insurance Sector, but related sectors with similar challenges in Jamaica, the Caribbean and the Diaspora, this was echoed when they presented jointly at the Insurance House on Thursday 13th February 2014 to the various related stakeholders – Adjusters Association (LAAJ); Insurance Association of Jamaica (IAJ); Revenue Protection Division (RPD); Police Security Rep; Motor Vehicle Authority.
Mark Shields. Photo courtesy www.foxsports.com.au
A major forum is planned for the next 8 weeks, in an effort to widen this engagement, ended St.Bernard.
Priority Investigations GM Howard Williams outlined that his company has been training over 40 investigators island wide and is now further expanding its operations locally and regionally, ‘Our team will provide Preliminary Accident Reports based on information gleaned at accident scenes.
The insurance companies will benefit from getting accurate information on:
ü Drivers
ü Passengers
ü Vehicles
ü Nature of injuries
ü Use of vehicles at the material time
ü Possible state of minds of drivers
ü Possible causes of accidents
ü Rest positions of vehicles
ü Damage profiles of vehicles
ü Information on witnesses, etc.
ü Possible breaches (e.g. unauthorized driver, overweight, etc.)
DIASPORA INVOLVEMENT
St.Bernard who is also the Spokesperson for the UK Caribbean Business Enterprise challenged the Diaspora to be part of this solution.
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