The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development today published guidelines to foster good practices in claims management by insurance companies.
The OECD calls on insurance companies to handle claims speedily and fairly, and recommends that companies monitor customer claims more closely as a way of combating fraud. Both measures should help insurance firms to operate more efficiently and so hold down the level of premiums and improve customer satisfaction, it suggests.
The guidelines were drawn up by the OECD’s Insurance Committee, which brings together government and private sector representatives from the OECD’s 30 member countries. They are designed to indicate best practice in both OECD countries and others.
To improve the way claims are handled, the OECD urges insurance firms to:
- give customers the information and assistance needed to enable them to file claims quickly and with all the details required;
- update customers on the status of claims and alert them if a claim may take some time to resolve;
- work together to combat fraud, for example through industry-wide databases to report and share fraudulent claims;
- deal with claims quickly, fairly and transparently, tracking their performance through statistical databases and making this information public; and
- inform customers of complaints procedures and address complaints promptly, keeping policyholders informed of what they are doing in response to complaints.
The OECD also invites insurance industry watchdogs to review companies’ claims management services, especially in cases of suspected shortcomings.