Press release -
Allianz Commercial on track for fraud-busting record
Opportunistic fraud on the rise
Allianz Commercial has successfully prevented £36.8m worth of insurance fraud in the first six months of the year, with marked increases in the property and casualty sectors.
The fraud investigators at the business insurance provider are on track to beat their record from 2021, when they busted £65.8m worth of scams over the course of a full year.
The £36.8m of fraud they detected in the first half of 2022 represents a 23% increase over the same period last year.
The H1 2022 fraud savings are distributed as follows:
- £17.3m in casualty (+26.6% over H1 2021)
- £10.3m in property (+40.6% over H1 2021)
- £9.2m in motor (+2.8% over H1 2021)
The 2021 whiplash reforms, with the Official Injury Claim portal, seem to have helped contain motor fraud. Crash-for-cash gangs continue to operate, targeting last-mile-delivery vans among other vehicles, but the rise is muted.
The increase is much more pronounced in commercial property and casualty.
Allianz Commercial has identified three trends, fuelled by the financial difficulties faced by both people and businesses:
- individuals lying about personal injuries to bring a claim against a business
- small businesses exaggerating what started as a genuine claim
- applicants falsifying documents to obtain a cheaper quote
Recent cases include:
- After a theft, a small shop claimed for a fire in order to receive a larger payout.
- A man who injured his Achilles tendon said he’d slipped on a wet floor at work, but a judge found it happened outside of work.
- A worker whose arm was lacerated in a forklift accident falsely claimed he hadn’t received training and refused to elucidate the circumstances of the accident. A court found the claim fundamentally dishonest.
- A small business falsified its prior claims history to obtain cheaper fleet insurance.
James Burge, head of counter fraud at Allianz Commercial, commented:
“With every economic downturn, insurers see a rise in fraud. At the moment, at Allianz Commercial, we’re particularly wary of opportunistic fraud, whether it is committed by or against businesses. Our teams are doing a great job of detecting dishonest claims and we’ll maintain our efforts to make sure that payouts go to genuine claimants. When times are hard, we need to help customers and claimants who actually need our support.”
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About Allianz Holdings plc
Allianz Holdings plc is the non-regulated holding company which owns the principal insurance operations of Allianz SE in Great Britain including Allianz Insurance plc.
About Allianz Group
The Allianz Group is one of the world's leading insurers and asset managers with more than 100 million* private and corporate customers in more than 70 countries. Allianz customers benefit from a broad range of personal and corporate insurance services, ranging from property, life and health insurance to assistance services to credit insurance and global business insurance. Allianz is one of the world’s largest investors, managing around 790 billion euros on behalf of its insurance customers. Furthermore, our asset managers PIMCO and Allianz Global Investors manage 1.7 trillion euros of third-party assets. Thanks to our systematic integration of ecological and social criteria in our business processes and investment decisions, we are amongst the leaders in the insurance industry in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. In 2021, over 150,000 employees achieved total revenues of 148.5 billion euros and an operating profit of 13.4 billion euros for the group.
*Including non-consolidated entities with Allianz customers
These assessments are, as always, subject to the disclaimer provided below.
Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements
This document includes forward-looking statements, such as prospects or expectations, that are based on management's current views and assumptions and subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Actual results, performance figures, or events may differ significantly from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Deviations may arise due to changes in factors including, but not limited to, the following: (i) the general economic and competitive situation in the Allianz Group's core business and core markets, (ii) the performance of financial markets (in particular market volatility, liquidity, and credit events), (iii) the frequency and severity of insured loss events, including those resulting from natural catastrophes, and the development of loss expenses, (iv) mortality and morbidity levels and trends, (v) persistency levels, (vi) particularly in the banking business, the extent of credit defaults, (vii) interest rate levels, (viii) currency exchange rates, most notably the EUR/USD exchange rate, (ix) changes in laws and regulations, including tax regulations, (x) the impact of acquisitions including and related integration issues and reorganization measures, and (xi) the general competitive conditions that, in each individual case, apply at a local, regional, national, and/or global level. Many of these changes can be exacerbated by terrorist activities.
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