It so happens that a Society which I am involved with is arranging a coach trip for 50 people, many of them elderly, in June.
I have asked the coach company for their insurance details and I thought I would check out whether the no-win, no-fee accident lawyers could give me any advice as to what other practical steps I should take in order to be able to meet any claims should they occur. Twice I phoned one of the longest established companies and in both cases I was told that this was not their role and the line was cut very quickly.
I, of course will be working to ensure that no accidents happen, but I can now see that the no -win no-fee people are , as I always suspected, no-help.
Showing posts with label insurance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label insurance. Show all posts
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Sunday, 21 September 2008
A week is a long time in the markets
Stelios Haji-Iannou remarked that " If you think risk management is expensive, try an accident".
Last week we started to count the cost of not having sufficent risk management is place in the derivatives' market. There is one estimate that this market is 11 times the value of the global GDP . No one knows how long or how painful it will be to extract the leverage out of that market or what the shape of the global financial industry will look like when it is finished.
Warren Buffet told us that derivatives were "weapons of mass destruction" back in 2002 when he reported on what he found when he unravelled General Re's derivative book. No one else comes close as a risk manager in the insurance business.
Last week we started to count the cost of not having sufficent risk management is place in the derivatives' market. There is one estimate that this market is 11 times the value of the global GDP . No one knows how long or how painful it will be to extract the leverage out of that market or what the shape of the global financial industry will look like when it is finished.
Warren Buffet told us that derivatives were "weapons of mass destruction" back in 2002 when he reported on what he found when he unravelled General Re's derivative book. No one else comes close as a risk manager in the insurance business.
Monday, 18 August 2008
Holidays, fun and risk
Holidays away from home are fraught with risks. You are in an unfamiliar place, exposed to unfamiliar weather, eating unfamiliar food and without the restraints that normally you recognise. On top of all of this you have the absurd expectation that, because you are on holiday, nothing can go wrong. Truth is you don't want to think about details when you are on holiday.
I have seen a middle aged European holidaymaker agree to be strapped into a parachute harness and towed into the sky by a motor launch off a Phuket beach whilst a Thai lad, sitting on his shoulders, manipulated the parachute cords to steer him around the bay. To make matters worse the boat did not have a clear run to get up speed, but had to weave its way through the swimmers near the beach.
The issue was not did he have insurance - it would probably not have paid out if there had been an accident - but why did he not recognise the danger and the slapdash nature of the people who he was about to risk his life with. Maybe he was too laden with alcohol to take a sensible view, even more likely he thought it a good idea at the time and, his protective mantra was " nothing can go wrong, 'cos I'm on holiday." Nine times out of ten there was no problem, but those are only slightly better odds than Russian roulette.
The same lack of thought can happen on company away days, where risks are taken, often by the chief executive, with the whole management team, in the interests of bonding. There is usually no attempt to understand the risks and to get the team to find ways of mitigating them, there is just the focus on the goal of having a good time and there is sometimes an element of bullying . Directors who allow such thoughtless risk taking may find themselves faced with a corporate manslaughter charge if things go wrong. On holiday you're on your own.
I have seen a middle aged European holidaymaker agree to be strapped into a parachute harness and towed into the sky by a motor launch off a Phuket beach whilst a Thai lad, sitting on his shoulders, manipulated the parachute cords to steer him around the bay. To make matters worse the boat did not have a clear run to get up speed, but had to weave its way through the swimmers near the beach.
The issue was not did he have insurance - it would probably not have paid out if there had been an accident - but why did he not recognise the danger and the slapdash nature of the people who he was about to risk his life with. Maybe he was too laden with alcohol to take a sensible view, even more likely he thought it a good idea at the time and, his protective mantra was " nothing can go wrong, 'cos I'm on holiday." Nine times out of ten there was no problem, but those are only slightly better odds than Russian roulette.
The same lack of thought can happen on company away days, where risks are taken, often by the chief executive, with the whole management team, in the interests of bonding. There is usually no attempt to understand the risks and to get the team to find ways of mitigating them, there is just the focus on the goal of having a good time and there is sometimes an element of bullying . Directors who allow such thoughtless risk taking may find themselves faced with a corporate manslaughter charge if things go wrong. On holiday you're on your own.
Friday, 25 July 2008
It's none of his business
Steve Jobs has been criticised for not being frank with his shareholders about his health. He has had one bout of cancer some years ago and the speculation is that he may be suffering a recurrence.
Any shareholder who buys Apple stock on the strength of Jobs being at the helm, must recognise that they are taking on an unusual set of risks. On the upside there is Jobs' extraordinary ability to develop new products which the world then realises that it wants extravagantly. On the downside there is the possibility, just like anyone, that he might not last out the year and the fear that he is irreplaceable.
There is no key man insurance big enough for Steve Jobs and the shareholders must accept that and not bleat about wanting to know the intimate details if he does not want to give them. You buy Apple stock for the ride and if it gets too scarey, jump off.
Any shareholder who buys Apple stock on the strength of Jobs being at the helm, must recognise that they are taking on an unusual set of risks. On the upside there is Jobs' extraordinary ability to develop new products which the world then realises that it wants extravagantly. On the downside there is the possibility, just like anyone, that he might not last out the year and the fear that he is irreplaceable.
There is no key man insurance big enough for Steve Jobs and the shareholders must accept that and not bleat about wanting to know the intimate details if he does not want to give them. You buy Apple stock for the ride and if it gets too scarey, jump off.
Monday, 30 June 2008
57% of all reported fraud is inhouse
Here are some Statistics which raise some issues but should be kept in the context of the world's largest financial city:
* Reported fraud cost the UK £705 million in the last six months an increase of 74% of the same period a year ago.
* Of that £636 million was in the finance and insurance sectors.
*London and the South East account for £634 million of the total.
* Management fraud accounts for 46% of fraud reported.
* Other employee fraud is up from 2.5% of the total a year ago to 11%.
* When the employee fraud is added to the management fraud we get a total of 57% of all fraud is in house or £402 million.
I rang the company who provided these numbers, BDO Stoy Haward, to ensure that I had understood them and to understand what the difference was between management and employees - employees are people, according to BDO Stoy Haward, who are not managers.
The report only covered frauds in excess of £50,000 and I guess the insurance and banking sectors being tightly regulated are more likely to report than other sectors of the economy.
What is clear is that in a recession some people become more likely to take the risk of committing fraud in order to fund a lifestyle, a credit card or a mortgage. This probably applies to minor fraud, shoplifting, burglary and mugging too. It will become worse if unemployment grows and there will doubtless be headlines to worry us when it does.
Just to cheer you up the report also mentions that the cases of fraud against the inland revenue is £22million which compares rather favourably with the same period last year when it was £336 million, unless, of course, they have left the records on the train.
* Reported fraud cost the UK £705 million in the last six months an increase of 74% of the same period a year ago.
* Of that £636 million was in the finance and insurance sectors.
*London and the South East account for £634 million of the total.
* Management fraud accounts for 46% of fraud reported.
* Other employee fraud is up from 2.5% of the total a year ago to 11%.
* When the employee fraud is added to the management fraud we get a total of 57% of all fraud is in house or £402 million.
I rang the company who provided these numbers, BDO Stoy Haward, to ensure that I had understood them and to understand what the difference was between management and employees - employees are people, according to BDO Stoy Haward, who are not managers.
The report only covered frauds in excess of £50,000 and I guess the insurance and banking sectors being tightly regulated are more likely to report than other sectors of the economy.
What is clear is that in a recession some people become more likely to take the risk of committing fraud in order to fund a lifestyle, a credit card or a mortgage. This probably applies to minor fraud, shoplifting, burglary and mugging too. It will become worse if unemployment grows and there will doubtless be headlines to worry us when it does.
Just to cheer you up the report also mentions that the cases of fraud against the inland revenue is £22million which compares rather favourably with the same period last year when it was £336 million, unless, of course, they have left the records on the train.
Monday, 28 April 2008
The Fantods of Risk: Essays on Risk Management
The Fantods of Risk: Essays on Risk Management
By H.Felix Kloman, published by Xlibris. Available from http://www.xlibris.com/ or Amazon http://www.amazon.com/ for $20
Roger Miller,a previous Executive Director of AIRMIC and no slouch with the apposite phrase, once described Felix Kloman to me as having a“luminous mind”.
The range and reading of that mind are on display in Kloman’s latest collection of essays on risk management,esoterically entitled “the Fantods of Risk”. Fantods are either a state of extreme nervousness(the fidgets) or a sudden outpouring of rage ( a fit).
Kloman ,I guess, is more likely to take to his keyboard in a fit ,one perhaps brought on by extreme nervousness as he contemplates the risks facing us and our general incomprehension. He has the seriousness of an Old Testament Prophet, laying down the law ( he likes lists),citing other scriptures including the saintly Peter Bernstein and the blessed John Adams, both known to members for their presentations at the AIRMIC Conference. Kloman is remarkable amongst the IRM membership for being struck dumb when giving their Lecture, an event which he describes in the book, graciously thanking the crisis management of the IRM and the hosts Willis.
He has read very widely and across many disciplines. He is one of the few writers on Risk Management from an insurance background who has become an active member of GARP, the Global Association of Risk Professionals, the financial risk managers who have recently been weighed in the balances and found wanting in their knowledge of risk. He chastises the improvident and the impertinent- including AIRMIC on two occasions in this book for the Partnership agreements which Kloman considers an outrageous conflict of interest – I disagree with him, but I can see why he might get a touch of the fantods when considering the situation from Maine or Connecticut, where he is in residence.
We need more prophets like Kloman, more such writers and thinkers ( not always the same thing of course) and his essays are always illuminating, as Roger said he found the man. They are full of wonderful insights, irritations, the odd haiku, a dash of Monty Python and serious analysis . He makes the study of risk an essential and central activity ,not some obscure calling. He has striven mightily to have the word “risk” accepted as having an upside as well as a downside. It makes you realise that if you look hard enough, within a prophet you may often find a poet.
.
By H.Felix Kloman, published by Xlibris. Available from http://www.xlibris.com/ or Amazon http://www.amazon.com/ for $20
Roger Miller,a previous Executive Director of AIRMIC and no slouch with the apposite phrase, once described Felix Kloman to me as having a“luminous mind”.
The range and reading of that mind are on display in Kloman’s latest collection of essays on risk management,esoterically entitled “the Fantods of Risk”. Fantods are either a state of extreme nervousness(the fidgets) or a sudden outpouring of rage ( a fit).
Kloman ,I guess, is more likely to take to his keyboard in a fit ,one perhaps brought on by extreme nervousness as he contemplates the risks facing us and our general incomprehension. He has the seriousness of an Old Testament Prophet, laying down the law ( he likes lists),citing other scriptures including the saintly Peter Bernstein and the blessed John Adams, both known to members for their presentations at the AIRMIC Conference. Kloman is remarkable amongst the IRM membership for being struck dumb when giving their Lecture, an event which he describes in the book, graciously thanking the crisis management of the IRM and the hosts Willis.
He has read very widely and across many disciplines. He is one of the few writers on Risk Management from an insurance background who has become an active member of GARP, the Global Association of Risk Professionals, the financial risk managers who have recently been weighed in the balances and found wanting in their knowledge of risk. He chastises the improvident and the impertinent- including AIRMIC on two occasions in this book for the Partnership agreements which Kloman considers an outrageous conflict of interest – I disagree with him, but I can see why he might get a touch of the fantods when considering the situation from Maine or Connecticut, where he is in residence.
We need more prophets like Kloman, more such writers and thinkers ( not always the same thing of course) and his essays are always illuminating, as Roger said he found the man. They are full of wonderful insights, irritations, the odd haiku, a dash of Monty Python and serious analysis . He makes the study of risk an essential and central activity ,not some obscure calling. He has striven mightily to have the word “risk” accepted as having an upside as well as a downside. It makes you realise that if you look hard enough, within a prophet you may often find a poet.
.
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