18 page 22 page 26 international travel insurance journal ... · international travel health...

International travel healthinsurers, fed up with paying‘inflated’ charges in Americanhospitals, can watch with someanticipation – and satisfaction– as the Illinois courts probethe thorny issue of how andwhy hospitals charge differentrates for different customers.Milan Korcok reports on whatis proving to be an interestingcase

In a class action launchedagainst Chicago area AdvocateHealth Care System, sevenformer uninsured patients havesued for damages, claiming thatthey were overcharged forservices and hounded intobankruptcy when they couldn’tpay their debts. The suit, whichcould have nationalimplications for hospitals’differential billing practices, was

filed in November in Cook County Circuit Court,on behalf of uninsured patients who said they werecharged more than insured patients. The plaintiffsare seeking recovery of fees they allegedly overpaid,charges related to their debt refinancing anddefaulted payments, and requirements thatAdvocate inform all uninsured patients oftreatment fees up front.The suit also alleges that the 10-hospital system

used debt collection practices that violated the stateof Illinois’ Consumer Fraud and DeceptiveBusiness Practices Act. One plaintiff, a mother ofthree, claimed that she filed for bankruptcy afterAdvocate sued to collect $3,338 for the birth ofher daughter. She said she was charged more thantwice what she would have been charged if she hadhad insurance.Though it is commonpractice for hospitals inthe United States to offermajor discounts to insurerswho refer patients tothem, most also providesubstantial amounts ofuncompensated care topatients who are unable topay. Medicare andMedicaid (which cover theelderly, the disabled andthe poor) also pay only aportion of retail hospital‘prices’. Advocate spokesman, EdDomansky, noted that thehospital system had budgeted $220 million foruncompensated care in 2003, $51 million of whichwas for charity care. He also said Advocate offersdiscounts of 50 to 100 per cent to many uninsuredor poor patients and virtually all who apply forcharity care are granted discounts.Prior to the filing of the class action suit against

ESSENTIAL READING FOR TRAVEL INSURANCE INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS

International Travel Insurance Journal

8 Page 26Page 20 Page 22

ISSUE 36 • JANUARY 2004

International standards on accounting Europe and the US can’t even agree on how tomeasure their ingredients in the kitchen, so whathope for harmonising international standards onaccounting? This is what the accounting rule makersare trying to do, but they have their work cut out. The efforts for a convergence of US andinternational standards took on an urgency after theEnron Corporation scandal, when

consumer/investor confidence took a knock.The differences will probably take years to resolve –if it is ever possible. But in the meantime, the rulechanges are in process, with officials of the US’sFinancial Accounting Standards Board (FASB)planning to propose a number of new rules in linewith its overseas counterpart, the InternationalAccounting Standards Board (IASB).

This is the first time thatthe rule makers in the UShave expressly changedtheir ways to take intoaccount the internationalapproach to doing things,rather than just expectingtheir overseas

counterparts to fall in line with US standards.This has to be seen as significant. The FASB’s proposal is part of a concertedeffort by it and the IASB not only to changeexisting rules, but to draft new ones jointly.This will make cross-border investment andinternational stock listings a lot simpler, and

Aviva moves2,350 jobs toIndiaAt the beginning of December, Aviva – which is theUK’s largest insurance group and the world’sseventh largest – announced that it was joining thelikes of HSBC and Lloyds TSB in shifting thousandsof jobs to India. Norwich Union has told staff that itwill cut 2,350 jobs in the UK and export the workto India. This is the latest in a long line of UK companies tomove its call centre operations some 5,000 milesaway. People are predicting that offshore outsourcingwill more than double in the next five years. Aviva, formed in 2000 in a merger of NorwichUnion with CGU, already has offices in Delhi andBangalore, where about 1,200 staff process generalinsurance claims. Worldwide, Aviva now employsabout 59,000 people, and by the end of 2004 thefirm expects to have at least 3,700 of them workingin India. Of the new posts created in India, approximately350 of them will be call centre roles, servicing UKcustomers. In addition, another 2,000 staff willwork in back offices, doing administrative work andprocessing claims. Aviva has said that a good 80 per cent of the jobsgoing to India will be absorbed by currentvacancies, staff turnover and voluntaryredundancies.

The union Amicus, on the other hand, has said thatit expects a possible 500 compulsory redundancies,and is part of a strong resistance to these moves bythe unions, who are fighting to keep jobs in the UK.Amicus voiced its disappointment at the insurer’sdecision. ‘This deplorable announcement by Avivais based purely on greed,’ said David Fleming,

continued on p.5 continued on p.2

continued on p.5

Court in the act

WHAT’S INTHIS ISSUE?

REGULARS

News 1Company brief 6Insurance matters 8Travel matters 14Grapevine 15Health matters 16News analysis: Indian take-away 18Profile: Mike Ramsay 25World markets: UK 26Dick’s hotline 32Smile corner 32Message from the editor 32Claim and counterclaim 32Diary dates 34Hot spots 34Service directory 35On the move 43

FEATURES

Rich pickings 20A look at kidnap insurance

Repatriation – at any cost? 32In the sixth part in our series on healthcare, weexplore the issue of repatriation in Latin America

ITIJ TEAMEditor-in-chief: Ian CameronEditor: Anne JohnsonSub-editor: Sarah Lee

Editorial assistant: Rebecca Attenborough

Designer: Eli Butler

US correspondent: Milan Korcok

India correspondent: Saby Ganguly

Legal correspondent: Dick Atkins

Conference manager: Denise Clements

Production: Adele Brown

Advertising sales: Brad CrossMerik Toms

Cartoonist: Chris Duggan

FREE SUBSCRIPTIONS FORTRAVEL PROFESSIONALS

ITIJVoyageur Buildings 43 Colston StBristol BS1 5AXUKeditorial: +44 (0)117 922 6600 advertising: +44 (0)117 925 5151fax editoial: +44 (0)117 929 2023fax advertising: +44 (0)117 925 2040email: [email protected] web: www.itij.co.uk

ITIJITIJInternational Travel Insurance Journal

Backpackersexpensive to insure

Insurance hikes are threatening the backpackermarket down under, Miles Clarke reports fromSydney

The time when Australian tourism perceivedbackpackers as visitors who arrived with a $10 notein hand, a single shirt and changed neither has longgone. Backpackers make up a valuable segment ofthe inbound market mix, provide useful itinerantlabour, stay a long time and spend up big.According to tourism minister Joe Hockey, all of thisis under threat. He says Australia is risking beingdismissed as an ideal tourist destination by foreignbackpackers because of the rising costs of publicliability insurance. He told the Adventure and Backpacker IndustryConference that Australia's reputation as an‘adventure’ destination was at risk because of risinginsurance claims. ‘One of the most significantimpediments to the growth of backpackingtourism... is the higher cost of public liabilityinsurance,’ said Mr Hockey.

He continued, ‘The states ofAustralia have the highest insurancetaxes in the world and it's having aprofound impact on the cost ofadventure activities. Whenbackpackers look carefully at thecost of adventure activities ... thencompare it with New Zealand orSouth Africa, the real cost ofbackpacking in Australia can bemuch higher.’ Mr Hockey also saidinsurance claims had risen from54,000 in 1996 to 86,000 in 1999. Student Travel Authority (STA)CEO, Dick Porter, said that theinsurance crisis needed to be sortedout immediately. ‘The key thingabout Australia that is it has to be aunique affordable adventure,’ saidMr Porter.‘Brand Australia has got to be cool– the young market wants to gosomewhere where they perceive itto be cool. They're not going to gosomewhere where they thinkthey're going to turn up and belooked after by a nanny.’

Mr Hockey said regional Australia had to bepromoted as a travel destination to overcome thedownturn in tourism. ‘We have to move beyondthe traditional icons ... the reef is very important tous, the rock is very important to us, the HarbourBridge and the Opera House are very important tous, but we need to expand travel beyond thoseareas,’ he said.Mr Hockey said that cash-strapped backpackerswere incredibly lucrative because they travelled toremote destinations and worked in rural towns.‘The backpacker industry is a viable part, not just inthe tourism industry but in the broader Australiancommunity,’ he said. He added that, for thisreason, the backpacking industry needed to have anassociation that represented its voice to thegovernment and the community.

Terrorism a fact oflifeHiscox is to offer commercial terrorism insurance inCanada, following the launch of its broker extranetsystem. The online system, known as INScribe, willoffer terrorism cover of up to $25 million perbuilding on risks across Canada and the US.The extranet gives brokers instant access tocapacity and quotes for cover. Key elements of thecover include up to $25 million limit per buildingon a full value basis; both Canadian and US assetsinsured on one policy; acts of domestic terrorismby special interest groups; zero physical damagedeductible; seven-day business interruptiondeductible; and physical damage and businessinterruption insurance offered as a separate or

combined policy.Robert Childs, director of underwriting atHiscox, said: ‘Today, terrorism is a fact of life andbusinesses of all sizes and types are recognisingthat they don’t have to be the actual target of anattack to suffer damage, loss and interruption totheir ongoing business, regardless of theirlocation. Hiscox has seen an increasing demandfor cover against terrorism risks across Canadaand we have launched our online system tomeet that demand. We have experience ofterrorism insurance stretching back more than aquarter of a century, and this has enabled us tolook at the needs of the Canadian market andprovide a cost-effective and workable solution

for both brokers and clients. Our system is uniquein that it gives instant access to capacity and thenallows the broker to offer the client a very clearand straightforward policy wording. We believe theclarity of cover and ease of use will be welcomedby Canadian brokers.

Twelve charged inTurkeyAs 16 people were detained in connection with theblasts in Istanbul in November, officials underlinedTurkey’s determination to eradicate terrorism.Twelve of the men have been charged with aidingand abetting the attackers, who drove ‘cars ofdeath’ into the British consulate and the HSBCbank, causing 30 deaths and 459 people to beinjured.Counter-terrorism experts have stepped up theirinvestigations, and the Islamic-leaning governmenthas ordered mosques across Turkey to deliver asermon on combating terrorism, focusing on theincompatibility of violence and Islam. It is thoughtthat al-Qaida sympathisers may have been

indoctrinated in the shanty towns around Istanbul,where religious feeling is strong.Istanbul’s police chief tried to fend off criticism ofintelligence shortcomings, blaming the Turkishmedia for its role in the bombings. He lashed out atthe local press for disclosing the details of the twoearlier suicide bombers, who weretargeting synagogues in an earlier roundof attacks. He said that this indiscretionhad panicked other members of theterrorist network into moving ahead witha second round of strikes against theBritish consulate and HSBC bank. Heaccused the media of irresponsibility. Meanwhile, tour operators reportedmass cancellations and thousands offoreign visitors fled Istanbul and othercities, amid widespread fears of anotherattack. There was extensive use ofroadblocks and police were visibleeverywhere. Scotland Yard and the FBIare helping in the hunt for the killers.An emergency meeting was called inAthens to deal with the security threat.The Greek government is planning touse 10,000 soldiers at this year’sOlympic games to back up an estimated40,000 police.The British consulate is intending toreturn to their shattered building, in spiteof criticism that the site was – andremains – unsafe. The survivors of theattack were still feeling very vulnerableand security at British embassies around the worldis being kept under constant review. The immediate fall in stock prices following theattacks in Istanbul shows that the financial markets arenot immune to terrorism. The attacks were a realitycheck for many investors, and the news was quick toprompt a tumble in many stock markets across theworld, including the DAX, the FTSE and the CAC.The bombs in Turkey highlighted that the perceivedlevel of the equity risk premium in 2004 is not as lowas investors had expected and could be a catalyst fora correction. Analysts recommend avoiding travel-related stocks because these will be the first to feelthe brunt of a drop in tourism and business travel.Indeed, on the day of the attacks, German touroperator TUI slid three per cent, while Lufthansadropped 3.6 per cent.

Advocate, the Illinois attorney general initiated aninquiry into allegations that some hospitals wereovercharging the uninsured. There may be sometruth in this.Referring to the inquiry, Ben Weinberg, chief ofthe public interest division of the attorney general’soffice, said hospitals may be inflating their ‘listprices’ to make up for the discounts they offertheir best customers. Uninsured patients may notbe aware that they are the only ones paying the listprice, he said, and that they might be able tonegotiate those prices downwards.

Court in the actcontinued from p.1

International Travel Insurance Journal www.itij.co.uk

NEWS2


NEWS4

Killing in Zanzibar

A British businessman was shot dead by robbers infront of his wife and two children on Zanzibar’smain island. At least 10 robbers raided his houseand ignored his wife’s pleas to let him live.Antony Griplas ran a tourist company called AfricaAfloat, specialising in trips aboard traditional Dhowboats for tourists. Zanzibar is a peaceful place andattacks of this kind are rare.

Protecting softtargets

Soft targets are not easy to protect but are atthe heart of the intersection where terrorismand multinational business meet. Followingon from the attacks of 11 September, theterror networks of Islamist extremism havelargely turned away from the heavily guardedhard and obvious targets, such asgovernment and diplomatic institutions andhave turned their attention to soft targets, likereligious institutions and internationalbusinesses.This is the concern of Richard Ingram, deputyexecutive director for the Overseas SecurityAdvisory Council (OSAC), which was createdby the US State Department in 1985 in the

aftermath of the bombing of the US Marine Corpsbarracks in Lebanon. The then Secretary of StateGeorge Shultz was besieged by corporations thatwanted the same information on terrorism andthreats posed by terrorists as the State Departmentwas sharing with its embassies.Today, the OSAC is overseen by the StateDepartment’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security andadvises huge international companies such as banks,airlines and restaurants, as well as small businesses.The OSAC has contacts with 450 diplomatic-security officers stationed around the world, andspreads information through an email network oneverything from terror threats to crime trends andtravel information. In this way, the OSAC is able towatch over US firms working abroad and toprotect both their corporate interests and theiremployees who work so far from home. Flooding in France

kills fiveFive people died on 1 December, as torrential rain,flash floods and 90mph winds battered the Rhônevalley in southern France. Nearly 8,000 peoplewere evacuated from their homes, as roads andrailway lines were closed.Marseille, which is France’s second largest city, wasdeclared a natural disaster zone, and PresidentJacques Chirac and his interior and environment

ministers toured the area. Metereologists said thatfour times as much rain had fallen in the region onone day as is usual for the whole of December, andpeople are talking of the floods of the century.

Another fine messIt’s not funny and it’s becoming more common, tosuch an extent that this wry quote from Laurenceand Hardy seems grimly appropriate. A warning was issued about insurance companyTribune Risk and Insurance Services, which hasapparently left 40,000 policyholders without coverbecause it was operating without officialauthorisation. People who have policies with thecompany are being urged to take immediate stepsto obtain replacement cover.Provisional liquidators moved in at the company’sheadquarters just outside Edinburgh on 11December, following legal action instigatedby the Financial Services Authority (FSA).Tribune apparently had no reserves orprovisions in place to meet claims.Tribune offered various types of generalinsurance, including household andbuildings. The problem is said to havearisen as a result of the company, whichacted as an agent, losing some of itsunderwriting but continued selling policies. PricewaterhouseCoopers has beenappointed as joint provisional liquidators. Ahelpline for claims and other queries hasbeen set up.

Bomb in Moscowkills six

Two female suicide bombers launched an attack inthe heart of Moscow on 9 December, just metresfrom the Kremlin and in front of the five-starNational hotel, opposite Red Square. Six peoplewere killed and a dozen injured.The attack raises the grim prospect of a wave ofterrorist violence in the Russian capital. It looks asthough the intended target was the parliament,which was just a few hundred metres away.Radical groups with links to Chechen rebels aresuspected of being responsible. They have caused asuccession of suicide bombings in Moscow andsouthern Russia over the past year, which have leftabout 250 people dead. This most recent attack was the closest that suicidebombers have come to the seat of power. It wastimed to coincide with President Putin’s celebrationsof his parliamentary election victory.

French arrest keyETA leaders

French anti-terrorist policearrested four keymembers of theBasque separatistgroup ETA on 9December,including itsmilitary leaderand chief oflogistics. The two,who were amongthe most wantedterrorists inEurope, werecaptured in a pre-dawn raid in the village of Lons,near the southwestern town of Pau.This is the second significant blow to the terror

campaign in lessthan a week,following thecapture of ETA’salleged leader on 4December nearFrance’s borderwith Spain. ETA isthought to havebeen dealt a severeblow, particularly asit is felt it will bedifficult to replacetheir leaders.

Tel: +254-20-600090/ 600552/ 315454/ 315455/ 602492Fax: +254-20-336886 Mobile: +254-733-639-088, +254-722-314-239

Sat Phone: +873-762-315-580 Sat Fax: +873-762-315-581Radio Frequencies: HF 9116 kHz LSB, 5796 kHz LSB

email: [email protected]

www.itij.co.uk International Travel Insurance Journal

NEWS 5

Lightning strikesSeveral incidents of lightning strikes recently haveunderlined what a very dangerous thing they are. A British backpacker had a lucky escape after beingstruck by lightning in Australia, in the BlueMountains west of Sydney. He is thought to havedied before being resuscitated. His two friendswere also struck. All three suffered burns in theincident and were treated in hospital.A golfer in Melbourne was struck by lightning as hetook shelter under a tree when the city wasbattered by the worst storms in a century. So it’strue what they say – never go under a tree duringa storm. Better to get wet…

Tourists kidnappedin IranThree European tourists were kidnapped in asoutheastern province of Iran on 8 December. Thearea is plagued by drug smuggling, and the twoGermans and an Irish national were on a cycling tripwhen they were abducted near the Pakistan border.The hostages are thought to have been taken by thesame bandit groups that kidnapped three Spanishand an Italian tourist in 1999. These hostages werelater released unharmed. The group Schiruk has

apparently demanded a €5 million ransom.Kidnap is rare in Iran, though the impoverishedregion is known for its armed drugs gangs, whichferry large quantities of heroin from Pakistan andAfghanistan into Iran and then on to Europe. Sincethe US-led war in Afghanistan, members of the al-Qaida network are thought to have fled to Iran andare suspected of exploiting the drug-smugglingnetworks in order to cover their movements.

When safety gearcan kill

International standards on accounting continued from p.1

will make things easier for everyone concerned. So, according to IASB chairman, David Tweedie,changes to US rules are a clear, and much needed,signal to the rest of the world, especially Europe,that the process of merging accounting standards isa two-way street. ‘Europe will be impressed thatthe US is prepared to take the pain,’ he said.Among the most significant changes that the FASBpropal will probably include is a generalrequirement for companies to apply accountingchanges retroactively. This is just one of a handful ofareas on which the two boards have been working

in an attempt to resolve differences, includingpensions, derivatives and re-evaluation of assets. To get things moving, the FASB and the IASB haveagreed to meet formally twice a year. Mr Tweediestresses that this is not about petty arguing overarcane accounting, but about growth, investmentand trade.No one is underestimating the magnitude of the taskthat lies ahead, but the differences do not lookinsuperable. If both sides are prepared to compromiseand not become set on their prestige in the world,there may be light at the end of the tunnel.

There is a mounting problem for emergencyworkers in the US, when car manufacturers fill theircars and trucks with devices that increase safety formotorists but pose a danger to rescuers, many ofwhom are not aware of the hazards. These includeair bags, which can fire off twice or may be locatedin doors or roofs. Even pre-tensioning seat belts,which use a charge of gunpowder to yank againstan occupant during impact, can explode in thehands of a firefighter who is working to cutsomeone free. Also of concern are new fuel orengine technologies, such as explosive propane gastanks or powerful electric batteries.Cars are ‘a loaded bomb waiting to try to hurt usas responders,’ said a vehicle-rescue specialist.Emergency workers are used to dealing with thestandard hazards of gas tanks and 12-volt batteries,but technology is moving at such a pace that manyof them can’t keep up with what’s on the street,from cars with as many as a dozen air bags to gas-electric hybrid vehicles with batteries powerfulenough to electrocute a man. The US National Highway Traffic SafetyAdministration is asking emergency workers toreport injuries of safety concerns about air bags andother equipment in cars. There is concern that carmanufacturers should put labels on vehicles listingall potentially hazardous systems on board.Emergency nurses and medical technicians arecompiling cases of post-crash injuries of this kind, inan attempt to monitor the problem.The car industry is apparently becoming more awareof the problem and is discussing ways to respond.Some fire and rescue departments are making effortsto stay current with developments and are workingwith car manufacturers to keep up to date.

Aviva moves 2,350 jobs to Indiacontinued from p.1

national secretary of Amicus. ‘This move ignoresAviva's corporate social responsibility towards bothits UK employees and customers,’ he added. The company has not denied that its decision isabout money. Aviva said that operating costs in Indiawere typically 30-40 per cent lower than in the UK.Average call centre salaries in the UK are about£12,500, compared with£1,200 in India. Theconclusions are obvious.But that’s not all. The movewill also help the insurerprovide 24-hour services – thisis because the time differencebetween the UK and Indiawould allow the company tomove to round-the-clockclaims processing andadministration. The fact thatIndians are also well-educated,hard working and English-speaking is another advantage. But it is principally the lure of savings that is causing agrowing number of companies to transfer jobs tooffshore bases on the other side of the world.Despite a high-profile counter campaign being runby many British unions, research shows that 28 firmshave outsourced more than 50,000 jobs serving UKcustomers to India over the past two years. As Graham Hoskins, managing partner of call centreconsultancy Kinetic, which produces a guide tooutsourcers in India, says, ‘The commercialarguments are very persuasive.’The latest on the grapevine is that AXA has nowbegun taking inbound calls from UK customers at itsIndian call centres for the first time in early December.The move is apparently part of a pilot scheme toreduce the pressure on the insurer's UK call centres. And we have not heard the last of it: offshore

outsourcing of call centre work is expected to growby 25 per cent over the next five years. But while there are cost savings to be made now,there are fears that the increased demand willeventually push salaries higher in the main outsourcingcentres of Bangalore, New Delhi, and Bombay. ‘Atthe moment it is all very cost-driven, but in the long

term, companies will see savings diminish,’ warnsKinetic management partner Stephen Peattie.The astonishing thing, given the widespread moveof jobs in several sectors to India – led by theinsurance industry but also including financial, legal,and even information sectors (British Telecom issending Directory Enquiries to India and therailways are sending their network timetable peoplethere) – is that no one foresaw this happening andit seems to have taken everyone by surprise. Sowhat next – China, perhaps? But it’s not bad news for everyone and, notsurprisingly, many of the Indians who are gainingjobs are cock-a-hoop. For a discussion of what thishas meant for workers in India, see News analysis,on page 18.

More Th>n tops£400 million

Royal and SunAlliance’s direct arm, More Th>n, isset to bring in over £400 million in gross writtenpremiums this year, according to a More Th>nspokesperson. More Th>n claims that research hasrevealed that the UK’s largest personal linesinsurers, Norwich Union and Royal Bank Insurance,would have premium incomes in excess of £1billion. R&SA would have a premium income ofover £530 million, whilst Zurich would have anincome of around £328 million for 2003. Thesefindings keep R&SA safely as Britain’s third largestpersonal lines insurer. The gap would close considerably if Zurich wereto pick up the household account of HSBC,estimated to be worth £80–£90 million ofpremium income. Nevertheless, R&SA mightcontinue to work with HSBC on the account – itsexisting contract is set to lapse.

MetLife sets up inChina

MetLife, the largest life insurance company in theUS, declared in October that it would set up its firstcompany in China, in a joint venture with BeijingCapital Airport Group. The new company, calledSino-US MetLife, will have its headquarters in Beijingand provide life insurance in China. It will make fulluse, too, of MetLife’s staff in Hong Kong and Taiwan. MetLife decided to cooperate with Beijing CapitalAirport Group, which is not an insurance company,because the group has so many customers and isvery influential in China.

Confidence inChina Life

Investors flocked to buy into the biggest float of theyear on 12 December, reportedly bidding for atleast 13 times more stock than was on offer. ChinaLife Insurance Company raised $ three billion, afterpricing its share issue at HK$3.625. Investors placedorders for more than $40 billion.The frenzied demand was seen as a vote ofconfidence in both China and equity investment,coming as it did only 12 hours after the Dow JonesIndustrial Average broke above 10,000 for the firsttime in 18 months.

Travellers Lifeenhances product

Travellers Life & Annuity has introduced itsimproved Travellers Variable Life Accumulatorproduct, a variable universal life insurance policythat combines investing, insurance and professionalmoney management to help clients meet theirinsurance needs, and manage and grow theirwealth more effectively. A restructuring of theMortality & Expense risk and administrative chargeson the improved Travellers Variable LifeAccumulator product resulted in improved cashvalues for all ages and increases in distributionpotential up to eight per cent, when comparedwith the original product.‘Capitalising on the M&E charge restructuring tooffer this enhanced product exemplifies an ongoingcommitment to keep our life product portfoliorobust,’ said Gene Lunman, vice president ofTravellers Life & Annuity. ‘With the equity markets,along with investor confidence improving, it is agreat time to make this change. Competitivelyspeaking, we see this as a real opportunity toposition our variable product offering for growth.’

William RussellrevisesWilliam Russell Ltd. has recently announced theirGlobal Health plan revisions for 2004, whichincorporates some valuable new benefits. Thesenew benefits include chronic cover benefit,psychiatric benefit, compassionate home travel,accommodation expenses of an accompanyingperson on evacuation, increased emergencyevacuation benefit, and a higher annual limit ontheir Select Care plan.

Broker reinsurancesystem

Ri3k is focusing on the broker with its launch ofVersion 2.0 of its reinsurance infrastructure. Acompletely new user interface introduces a host ofadvanced new features. Brokers are able tomanage multi-layered treaty programmes, thefacility to pass on technical accountingdata, and access dual-continent real-time disaster hosting.Alex Letts, chief executive of ri3k,commented, ‘The release of 2.0 is asdramatic a step forward as Windows3.0 was for Microsoft 10 years ago.Data can flow across the infrastructurefrom top to bottom, but there is stillone important component to berevealed as soon as renewals are over- we call it Project Jhelum. In themeantime, the exclusive focus is onthe treaty side for the renewal season.’In September, ri3k announced thateight large cedants had already begun their migrationfrom paper-based processing to the electronicparadigm. ACE Overseas General, Aviva, Brit,Talanx/HDI, and Royal & SunAlliance are amongthose using the ri3k infrastructure for renewals.

Awards for iJETTravel RiskManagement

We are particularly pleased to report news of theseawards for iJET Travel Risk Management, our oldfriends who write our regular Hotpots column (see

page 32). Both awards –the InfoWorld 100 Awardand the Process InnovationAward – recognise iJET'sconsiderable investment instate-of-the-art riskmanagement technology, aswell as the company'scommitment to continuallyimproving the technologythat drives its varied riskmanagement solutions. ‘We've invested a great dealin our state-of-the-artoperations and response

centre,’ said iJET CTO Greg Meyer. ‘Wecontinually build on that investment by working toprovide our clients with the very latest in travel riskmanagement technology. We are proud to receivethese awards, and proud of the technology andservices that are bringing high praise from clientsand industry experts.’ Company CEO Bruce McIndoe added, ‘Theseawards are a testament to iJET's diligence andversatility when it comes to implementing newtechnologies. We are constantly re-evaluating andimproving our business processes to better serveour clients, and we're very pleased to have beenrecognised by both of these prestigious awardsprogrammes for our efforts.’

COMPANYBRIEF6


In a move that seems to buck the trend, theinsurance associations nix federal regulation.Milan Korcok reports

Regulation of insurance companies in the UnitedStates is a state function and should remain so, thepresident of the National Association of InsuranceCommissioners (NAIC) recently told acongressional subcommittee. Responding tolegislative initiatives in the House of Representativesand Senate that would federalise regulation of theindustry, Mike Pickens told the HouseSubcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, andGovernment Sponsored Enterprises that stateregulation of insurance has served consumerseffectively and efficiently for 125 years – and that iswhere it should remain for the next 125 years.‘The state regulatory system is inherently strongwhen it comes to protecting consumers becausewe understand local needs and local marketconditions,’ said Pickens, who is also the ArkansasInsurance Commissioner. ‘However, we agree withcritics that there is a need to make the system moreuniform, reciprocal, and efficient.’ He noted, too, that states are well on the way tothat goal as it is delineated in the NAIC’s InsuranceRegulatory Modernisation Plan. The Plan, whichwas unanimously adopted by its members last fall,establishes the principles for consumer protection,market regulation, new product development andapproval, licensing, solvency regulation, and changesin insurance company control. The action plan calls

for states to reach allmodernisation goals by datesranging from 31 December2003 to 31 December 2008.The idea of federal regulationof insurance has been pickingup some steam under theimpetus of Senator FritzHollings (Democrat, SouthCarolina) and large insurancecompanies such as Prudentialand Metropolitan Life that dobusiness in all states. Siding withPickens and the NAIC, the National Association ofInsurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA - formerlythe National Association of Life Underwriters) in itsown congressional testimony said it ‘remainssceptical… that the creation of a federalbureaucracy is necessary to achieve reform.’States can do the job, said the NAIFA in a statementto the House committee, especially now that stateshave the NAIC’s modernisation plan as a templateto work with.‘While the promise of increased uniformity andefficiency sounds appealing, proponents of thisapproach appear to have lost sight of theundeniable benefits of the state-based system andhave overlooked the increased havoc that a federalsystem could cause… There is much that is good about the state-basedsystem that would be lost through the creation of afederal regulator, including an enforcement

infrastructure upon whichconsumers throughout thenation rely heavily to protecttheir interests.’In that respect, NAIC’s Pickensnoted that 49 states haveadopted the NAIC’s ProducerLicensing Model Act; 39 stateshave implemented statelicensing reciprocity; a Systemfor Electronic Rate and FormFiling (SERFF) has been created

which has resulted in an 88 percentincrease in electronic filings in 2003 over 2002, withan average turnaround time nationally of 17 days;and 42 states now certify compliance with two ormore critical insurance exam areas such asscheduling, pre-exam planning, companyprocedures and reports.While the NAIC was presenting testimony to theHouse, the National Association of MutualInsurance Companies (NAMIC) was sending asimilar message to the Senate’s Commerce, Scienceand Transportation Committee, which also heldhearings on Federal Involvement in ‘Regulation ofthe Insurance Industry’ this past fall. The Senate iscurrently considering Bill 1373, the InsuranceConsumer Protection Act of 2003, which wouldcoalesce regulation of insurance companies in onefederal agency. The NAIC is a voluntary organisation of state chiefinsurance regulatory officials.


INSURANCEMATTERS8

Munich Re disappointsThe world’s largest reinsurer disappointed itsinvestors with a warning that it would post its firstfull-year net loss in nearly a century for 2003. It hasblamed German tax regulations for preventing itwriting off investment losses that were incurred inthe recent stock market losses.Munich Re reported a third-quarter net profit of

€152 million, which was substantially up from the

€859 million loss a year earlier. That said,however, the figure was well below analysts’

expectations of a net profit of around €400 millionfor the quarter. Munich Re has been hard hit by the turmoil thathas put the screws on the industry for the pastthree years. Heavy claims from terrorism, asbestossettlements and natural catastrophes, combinedwith dwindling investment returns, have made for aheavy bill, and the balance sheets of most of theworld’s major insurance groups have sufferedaccordingly.The group’s profit warning comes as a blow toMunich Re’s professed hopes of recovering itsformer AA rating. Reinsurance companies set greatstore by their credit ratings as a way of showingtheir financial strength to their clients and that theywill be able to weather the ups and downs of theinsurance industry in the long term.

Stake outMunich Re reduced its stake in Allianz AG on 17 November, from just below 15 per cent to12.2 per cent. Commentators applauded themove, saying that it reduced large risk-weightedassets on Munich Re’s books and was in line withboth companies’ strategies for reducing cross-shareholdings. Further similar transactions areexpected, and Munich Re and Allianz are

Who regulates the regulators?

Mike Pickens

RSA sells Chilean subsidiaryRoyal & SunAlliance has agreed to sell its 51 percent stake in its Chilean subsidiary, Compania deSeguros de Vida La Construccion, to La CamaraChilena de la Construccion, the current 49 per centshareholder. Proceeds of the sale will be used byRoyal & SunAlliance to support its ongoing generalinsurance businesses.Simon Lee, Royal &SunAlliance’s CEOinternationalbusinesses, said, ‘LaConstruccion hasbeen a successfulbusiness venture forthe group over theyears, but given ourincreasing focus ongeneral insurance, webelieve that it is nowappropriate towithdraw from thebusiness and for the

company to revert to local ownership. I wish everysuccess to the management and employees of LaConstruccion, and to our former joint venturepartner in its role as sole owner of the business.’

An olive branchThe UK government extended an olive branch on4 December to businesses struggling to pay soaringinsurance premiums for compulsory employers’liability insurance and is publishing a report outliningproposals to tackle the problem, including plans toreduce legal costs for claims. The proposals weregiven a cautious welcome by employers’ groupsand insurers, whose response was that thegovernment’s commitment needs to be backed byaction, and have been lobbying for governmentintervention.Companies have to be insured against claims forinjuries in the workplace and industrial diseasessuch as asbestosis. But steep rises in premiums –often by as much as 100 per cent – have drivensome small firms to the brink of bankruptcy.Construction firms have been particularly badly hit.UK Chancellor Gordon Brown defended himself bysaying that there was ‘no quick fix’. Proposalsfavoured by employers include plans for improvedrehabilitation schemes to get employees back towork faster after illness or injury. Critic s say that thistackles the symptoms, not the cause of the problem.

Saga looks for buyerThe family-owned empire that has pioneeredpackage holidays and insurance for the over-50ssince 1951 is up for sale. The deal could fetch asmuch as £1 billion and the company is inviting bids.With sales last year of £341 million and pre-taxprofits of £55 million, Saga seems to be telling asuccess story in spite of 9/11 and its fallout.Although Saga is probably best known for itsholidays, some 80 per cent of its profits come fromits insurance and financial services. The company islooking for potential bids, but a flotation remains apossibility.Potential bidders include the likes of Kohlberg KravisRoberts, Candover and Advent, while touroperators such as First Choice and Thomas Cookare also likely to be interested in any deal that couldresult in a demerging of the holiday side.

Equitable membersconcerned

Stricken insurer Equitable Life has expressedcertainty that it is slowly achieving stability, in spiteof its free capital reserves having shrunk by another£100 million. The insurer’s financial health has beenhit, in general, by higher legal costs as well as a £20million increase in provisions to cover potential mis-selling compensation claims.Its Fund for Future Appropriations, which charts thecash available to meet bonus payments, fell £103million to just £453 million over the six months toJune. That said, however, chairman Vanni Trevessaid that the company had set aside what he called‘sufficient’ funds to deal with the various claims andlegal action inprogress, and thatthe company hadmade ‘goodprogress’ towardsrestoring an efficientbusiness model. But Equitablewarned itspolicyholders thatthe Penrose inquirymight result in ithaving to face a delugeof legal claims, which could force further increasesto its provision of £846 million. Worst hit will beEquitable’s with-profits annuitants, who were toldlast year to expect cuts of up to 28 per cent in theirpensions and as yet to be determined cuts this year.The troubled insurer tried to put a brave face onthings as it pointed to the potential for a positiveoutcome from the review by Lord Penrose, who isundertaking the onerous task of investigating the 40years that led to Equitable closing to new businessin December 2000. His report has not beenpublished yet and is due to be delivered to theTreasury early in the year – though some peoplehigh up in the society have said that they do notexpect it to be published until the spring. The society has warned that policyholders are likelyto feel the pain because of the fall in inflation andlow investment returns that have dogged many lifeinsurers. Paul Braithwaite, general secretary of thepolicyholders action group EMAG, said that thesociety’s interim report was a ‘grim read with toxicrisks described’.Liz Kwantes of the Equitable Life Members SupportGroup said that policyholders were increasinglyconcerned by the mounting number of claims. Shesaid that their group had been contacted by a lot ofannuitants, many of whom were out of their mindswith worry. The ground keeps moving for them, shesaid, and all they know is that they will be even poorer.

Investors takerollercoaster ride

For an industry that has been portrayed as mind-numbingly dull, the European insurance market hasgiven investors something of a thrill, with dramatichighs and lows. After this year’s earlier troughs,insurers have risen to peaks and stocks are up again.Yet in spite of this, some commentators are stillarguing that the European insurance industryrepresents a good way to ride the advancingmarket, particularly when one of the next bestoptions, recovering technology stock, is seen ashaving risen too far, too fast.Insurance stocks, especially life insurance, areparticularly attractive at the moment, as interestrates globally seem to be on the rise again, whilebond yields are also heading in an upwarddirection. Insurance stocks are therefore a goodalternative to shares in banks, which is anotherindustry whose fortunes are inextricably bound bychanges in interest rates.This is the view expressed by a European strategistat Morgan Stanley in London, while JFC also ratesEuropean insurers highly because of their strongperformance this year. Insurers have had threedismal years, but must be given credit for rebuildingtheir financial fortunes. Interestingly, JFC rates thereinsurers most highly of all.But not everyone is as bullish as that. J.P. Morgan,on the other hand, reckons that the Europeaninsurers will probably be burdened by increasedregulatory examination of their risks and growingcompetition from other companies in the marketthat are offering long-term savings products. Among the market leaders, the analysts’ favouritesinclude:• Allianz (Germany)• AXA (France)• Prudential (UK).

Hannover Re postsrise

Equitable chairman Vanni Treves


INSURANCEMATTERS10

Not all the news is bad and Hannover Re sentgood news from Germany. Its third-quarter net

profit increased to €94.2 million, whichrepresented a growth of 53 per cent from theyear-earlier quarter and a 3.5 per cent rise fromthe second quarter. These results compareparticularly well with those posted by Munich Re.The giant German reinsurer also raised its 2003

earnings outlook. It expects a 2003 net profit of €350

million, which is up from a forecast of €320 million.Such excellent results are due to lower claimscosts, a more selective underwriting policy, lowerwrite-downs on equity investment and a better

cost-income ratio. Year-earlier results hadbeen weighed down by high claims costsrelated to the floods in Germany and

GE spin

General Electric plans to spin off itsmortgage and life insurance operations thisyear into a new company called GenworthFinancial. In order to do this, it will sell 30per cent of the company, which is expectedto have a value of $10 billion.The company intends to use the proceedsof this, which could amount to as much as$3.5 billion, to pay down any debts. It willalso invest in existing activities.

Executive Life in fraud caseThe long-running Executive Life fraud case seems nonearer to a resolution and the French governmentseems set for a courtroom clash. The failedCalifornian insurance group, now known as AuroraNational Life Assurance Company, looks as though itmay have to go to court as talks between Frenchofficials and the US prosecution broke down.If any trial were to go against the French side, thiswould open the way for large civil claims against theFrench parties and might ultimately cost CréditLyonnais, which is now owned by Crédit Agricole,its banking licence in the US.But the row dates back to 1991, when USauthorities allege that the then stare-owned Frenchbank bought some of the assets of Executive Life,including the junk bond portfolio. At the time,banks could not own insurers and, in addition,Californian law did not allow foreign governments

to own insurers in the state.In September of this year, France pulled out of anagreement to make a $585 million settlement, oncondition that the US authorities dropped all claims,including those against the former Crédit Lyonnaischairman, Jean Peyrelvade and François Pinault. Thelatter is head of the Italian fashion house Gucci, thePPR retail chain and British auction house Christie’s,among numerous other assets, and is one of therichest men in France as well as being a close friendof French president Jacques Chirac. The problem is that Mr Pinault’s Artemis companybought part of the Executive Life junk bondportfolio. Mr Peyrelvade only became chairman ofCrédit Lyonnais after the Executive Life deal hadtaken place.And therein, the authorities have smelled a rat. TheFrench finance ministry has refused to comment on

why talks have broken down and it is understoodthat the two sides have not been able to reachagreement on the inclusion of Messrs Pinault andPeyrelvade in the deal. France is concerned thatexcluding the two men from the settlement wouldleave it open to new legal attacks if US prosecutorswere to exact compromising testimony or evidencefrom either of them.Both men have denied any wrongdoing.

** STOP PRESS ** STOP PRESS **

The latest on this protracted saga is that USattorney Debra Yang has finally accepted the Frenchgovernment’s proposal for a compromise, in atheatrical last-minute deal that looks like making itpossible to reach a tentative agreement. What this

amounts to is a $770 million settlement that wasonly reached after François Pinault agreed to pay$185 million in settlement of criminal charges, inexchange for immunity from further criminalprosecution. Under the deal, the bank will also pay$100 million in fines and damages, while the FrenchState will contribute up to $475 million.French insurer MAAF had apparently already agreedto settle with Debra Yang for $510 million, less thana day after she had rejected a French proposal. Anunnamed spokesman has said that the settlementdoes not cover Jean Peyrelevade. So a deal has been agreed in principle, though thefinal details are still being worked out, in a settlementthat represents an about-face both for France andfor Monsieur Pinault. The story is not quite over yet,although – barring any unexpected glitches – theend looks in sight. So near and yet so far…


INSURANCEMATTERS 11

With Friends likethese…

Friends Provident is cutting 500 jobs and makingpeople redundant as a result of its decision tofollow its rivals by closing down its door-to-doorsales. In addition, the insurer said that thecuts were taking place after a six-month consultation with theAmicus union and had to acceptthat the number of staff affectedby the disbandment of the directsales force was likely to be greater thanhad at first been envisaged.Friends Provident had suggested inOctober last year that 380 jobs wouldbe affected. The latest jobs to be lost aremainly from support and administration staff.The insurer said that the changes wereneeded because of forthcoming changes tothe regulatory regime, which is known asdepolarisation and which ends theseparation of independent financial advisersand agents for financial services. This means thatmany financial firms may decide they no longerneed to have a direct sales force and will rather selltheir products through independent financialadvisers and self-employed appointedrepresentatives. The insurer is currently indiscussions with 150 of those who are being maderedundant, with a view to them becoming self-employed appointed representatives.The company has said that the changes will betteralign the sales structure and the emerging marketplace ahead of depolarisation. It hopes that this willresult in greater cost and operational efficiency, whileallowing the company’s momentum to continue.Friends Provident will be closing six of its regionaloffices. These are in Bristol, Sunbury on Thames, StAlbans, Sale, Wakefield and Musselburgh, Midlothian.

Britannic closes doorsto new business

Ailing UK life insurer Britannic is taking the final stepin its restructuring plans and is saying no to newbusiness at its annuities arm. It has been trying toshore up its finances for some time but is nowadmitting defeat and says that prospective returnsfrom Britannic Retirement Solutions (BRS), set upthree years ago, are too low for it to stay in themarket.The decision to move the unit into run-off is likelyto lead to some 200 job losses at BRS. Britannichas been looking for a buyer for the unit formonths, and this latest move is seen as a logicalextension of its strategy, following the closure of its£5 billion with-profits fund to new business,scrapping its dividend and putting a stop to bonusesfor policyholders.New sales will now be concentrated through itsfund management and unit trust arm, BritannicAsset Management. Shares are unchanged.

Consolidation ininsurance

In a deal valued at $16 billion that will create one ofthe largest property-casualty insurers in the US andcould be a foretaste of more consolidation in theindustry, Travelers Property Casualty Corp. and StPaul Cos have agreed to merge. Although the twocompanies involved have called the deal a ‘mergerof equals’, the financial terms call for the smaller StPaul to acquire the larger Travelers in an all-stocktransaction that offers no price premium toshareholders in Travelers.No-premium deals can encourage speculation aboutpotential rival bidders, though no suiter is expectedto make a bid for either Travelers or St Paul. Wereeither party to walk away from the deal, there is a$300 million break-up fee.The combined company will be based in St Paul,Minnesota, though much of its operations willremain in Hartford, Connecticut. Executives fromthe two companies are emphasising that this wassimply too good an opportunity to miss rather thana reflection of pricing trends.Commentators have said, nevertheless, that the dealmay be seen as a signal that the ‘hard’ market of risingpremium rates, which property-casualty insurers havebeen enjoying in recent years, may be on the wane.This could, in turn, indicate that we may be able toexpect a wave of industry consolidation.

MONY stands itsgroundNew York life insurer, MONYGroup Inc., responded to criticismfrom shareholders that it had rushedinto a proposed acquisition byFrench insurer AXA SA by drafting aproxy disclosing details of discussionsit had held with other companiesthat had, in the event and afterpreliminary contact, provedunsuccessful. It said that it had heldtalks of this kind from 2001 untilApril 2003, including talks with threemutual insurers about ‘sponsoring’their demutualisation, with fourcompanies in life insurance orfinancial services about possiblemergers, and with three companies other than AXAabout buying MONY.In the filing, MONY put the inconclusive nature ofthe talks down to its comparatively small size, adecision by the mutual companies to remainindependent, the perceived risks of integration, andMONY’s belief that further talks would not be likelyto lead to ‘an attractive transaction’.MONY announced its $1.5 billion acquisition byAXA in September and then came under immediateattack from shareholders, who argued that the pricehad been too low and said that the company hadnot held an auction and had been too quick in itsacceptance. Some shareholders have even gone tocourt to try to raise the price of the deal. MONY, on the other hand, argued that the dealwas fair, particularly when one bears in mindMONY’s low return on equity. MONY also saidthat AXA had originally indicated a higher price thanthe one eventually agreed.

Lloyd’s makes abreakLloyd’s of London may be 315 years old but it hasnearly collapsed twice in the last 10 years,beleagured by multibillion-pound claims. But nowthe insurance giant is seeking help from a hard-hitting German, Rolf Tolle, to break its old boom-and-bust ways in a bid to ensure survival.

Herr Tolle has talked sharply to Lloyd’s about itsunderwriters charging too little for shipinsurance and is trying to get them tomodernise their ways, while still maintaining itsintegrity, its reputation and its profitability. Hesays his role is more that of coach thanreferee. The problem is that it is hard to breakold habits, particularly that of fierce

competition between underwriters. Lloyd’s isnot a company but a market, and this can causeparticular problems of its own. In the meantime, Lloyd’s has been warned toprepare for ‘strict US legislation’, in order toprevent ‘alarming levels of misunderstanding’ over

the incoming funding requirements imposed by theUS regulators on foreign reinsurance companies.London market reinsurance practitioners must makesure that they are aware of the proposals to reducecurrent collateral requirements and regularly discussthe matter with their US counterparts.

Restructuring takeseffectAs a result of its restructuring, including cuttingseveral thousand jobs and the sale of non-coreassets, Zurich Financial Service achieved aturnaround in the third quarter of this year. Thisgave them a profit of $701 million compared with aloss of $763 million in the year-earlier quarter. In addition, this year’s third-quarter gross writtenpremiums improved by 13 per cent to $13.36billion from last year’s $11.84 billion, mainly as aresult of rate increases in US insurance. Thecompany said that the figures were in line withexpectations.


INSURANCEMATTERS12

Sirius goes to WhiteMountains

No, its not a new skiing trip. Nor is it anything todo with Harry Potter’s late godfather Sirius Black.ABB, owners of re-insurer Sirius (SiriusInternational of Sweden, Sirius America andScandinavian Re) are selling to White MountainsInsurance Group of Bermuda, subject to regulatoryapproval. Sirius employs around 200 people.

Scor shores upbalance sheetFrench reinsurer Scor SA, struggling to shore upits poor balance sheet, said that it would increasethe amount sought in its right issue, as well asselling several real-estate holdings in Paris andMadrid, including its headquarters and someother corporate properties, to raise a larger-

than-expected €750 million. The extra capital isintended to give Scor greater financial flexibility.

Shareholders have already pledged €300 for therights issue, including principal investor – Frenchmutual insurer Groupama SA. The pricing of therights issue is to be decided by the company’sboard at an undisclosed date.Scor’s shares rose following the announcement,reflecting the improvement in the company’s financialposition, which will help it to improve its ratings.Over the past few months, Standard & Poor’s haspushed its rating down to BBB. This can be seriousfor a reinsurer, because many of its clients are unlikelyto work with any reinsurer rated less than AA.Scor’s problems began in 2002, when a sharp rise ininsurance claims occurred in conjunction with the

Fortis pulls out of Spanish market

Dutch-Belgian bank Fortis has decided to sell offits Spanish insurance subsidiary Seguros Bilbao to

Catalana Occidente for €255 million. David Ingreports from Spain

The deal, which is expected to be given the greenlight by the authorities early next year, fits in with‘our strategic objective of growing throughpurchases of companies which are goodopportunities,’ said Catalana Occidente presidentJose Maria Serra. The two companies are verysimilar in terms of products, in that they both use acommercial network of agents, and have a portfolioaimed at the public and small to medium size firms,he added.Fortis is pulling out of direct involvement in theSpanish market because there are limited

opportunities for expanding its business there, saidthe managing director of Fortis InsuranceInternational, Jozef de Mey. It will, however,continue to work with Barcelona-based savingsbank La Caixa, mainly in the life policy sector.Catalana Occidente, currently ranked 14 in Spain,made its first move outside the country in Augustwhen it took a shared 15 per cent stake in Germaninsurer Gerling NCM, where its partners includefinancial giants Swiss Re and Deutsche Bank. In

2002, it reported sales 16 per cent higher at €1.3

billion. Seguros Bilbao’s income was €373 million.

Fortis in UKFortis Insurance Ltd in the UK reported continuedgrowth, with an overall gross written premium(GWP) for the third quarter of 2003 of £418million, an eight per cent increase over the sameperiod in 2002 (£388 million).‘Overall, the results of the third quarter are verystrong. Our strategy to enhance our product rangeand our continued commitment to serving thebroker and intermediated market is clearly provingsuccessful,’ said Barry Smith, chief executive. ‘In theSME commercial market, we have seen a 56 percent increase in GWP to £29 million (2002 Q3£18.6 million). Similarly, household GWP hasincreased by 14 per cent to £70.8 million (2002Q3 £61.9 million).‘While premiums have remained broadly flat formotor, we have maintained our strong marketposition with private motor GWP at £291 million(2002 Q3 £287 million),’ he continued. ‘Our policycount is at an all-time high, clearly establishing Fortisas one of the largest private car insurers in the UK.Travel GWP has increased by 39 per cent to £19.8million (2002 Q3 £14.2 million). This is, in part,due to our winning the Post Office account earlier

Two down at OldMutual

The founders of Old Mutual’s American fundmanagement business have been ousted by theLondon-listed financial services group after beingcaught up in the US mutual funds investigation.Harold Baxter and Gary Pilgrim, founders of thePilgrim Baxter & Associates fund managementgroup it bought in 2000, have been forced toresign following conduct that was not considered tobe of the highest standard of professional and

ethical behaviour.This development is the latest sign that theinvestigation by US authorities into the mutualfund industry is having an effect in Britain. OldMutual’s shares have fallen following thesurprise departure of the two.The problem seems to revolve around apassive investment that Mr Pilgrim had in aninvestment limited partnership, unaffiliatedwith Pilgrim Baxter, that bought and soldshares of certain mutual funds. Mr Baxter wasapparently aware of the moves.

Generali returns toprofit

Europe’s fourth-largest insurer by premiums,Assicurazioni Generali SpA, reported a third-

quarter net profit of €206 million. This wasespecially good news because it reversed a year-

earlier loss of €401 million, and puts it on track toachieve its full-year profittarget.The company said thatits earnings were due toimproved profitability ofits underwritingoperations and gains oninvestments, as opposed

to last year’s €669million of losses oninvestments. Generalisaid, too, that itsunderwriting result,which measures thecombined operatingprofit of the non-life andlife businesses, rose 51

per cent to €125million. This was wellabove most analysts’expectations.The results proveGenerali’s new course tobe right, while its

OAG has introduced an upgrading of the CD version of itsmonthly travel planner, which allows users connected to theinternet (particularly those using broadband and other ‘live’systems), to view OAGflights.com. This has the greatadvantage of showing seat availability. While not as up todate as dealing directly with an actual airline site, it is stillquick and extremely useful. The editor of weekly news review, Air and Business Travel News,remarked recently on the fact that he had not had to chase for aManchester–London City flight, which he knew was full fromchecking on OAGflights.com. But it is worth noting that some ofthe budget airlines are not participating in this, presumably toprotect their strange and often irritating pricing systems.

Airlines vie for LAX

The Australian Government’s relationship withnational carrier Qantas is a little frosty followingan exchange between Federal Tourism Minister JoeHockey and Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon over thelucrative Sydney-Los Angeles direct aviation route.Miles Clarke reports

Qantas enjoys the lion’s share of this route, withsome 70 per cent of the market, with competitionmostly from United Airlines, which also operates aSan Francisco service. Air New Zealand also haslimited rights to operate the direct route.Mr Joe Hockey has called on Qantas to open itsbooks to provide more information about itsoperations on the route. Hockey made the call afterQantas had earlier described as ‘ill-founded’, viewsexpressed by the minister advocating an opening up

of trans-Pacific flights from Australia. He believedthere was a compelling case for additional airlineactivity between Australia and the US and that hewould like to see another carrier on the route.Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines have longcoveted a slice of the Australian East Coast to USWest Coast traffic but Australia has effectivelyblocked this happening until there is greater stabilityin the global aviation market. For its part, Qantashas long wanted the right to fly the Hong Kong-London sector, one of Cathay Pacific’s mostimportant and jealously guarded routes. Qantas flights to Europe mostly pass throughSingapore’s Changi Airport. Qantas chief executiveGeoff Dixon responded to Hockey’s call to open itsbooks by saying the airline had provided detailedinformation to Hockey on the issue, and ‘did not

understand why he had chosen to ignore thefacts.’ Dixon described as ‘plain wrong’ suggestions byHockey that a shortage of seats was having anegative impact on the number of peoplecoming to Australia from both the US andEurope. He also rejected the assertion that therewas a compelling case for additional airlineactivity between Australia and the US and forEmirates Airlines to have greater access toAustralia. After cutting its Australia-Los Angelesservices to 25 flights a week during the height ofthe SARS crisis, Qantas has since restored itsflights to 34 a week.

BA scores a tryThe thousands of fans who cheered England tovictory in the rugby World Cup in Australia wereresponsible for helping boost British Airways’passenger numbers in November. The airlinecarried 2.68 million passengers in that month,

which was a 1.8 per cent increase on the samemonth a year previously. Air Pacific traffic, which also includes flights toAustralia, was also up, by nine per cent.

Sri Lanka goesdomesticSri Lanka is launching its first domestic flights in thenew year, with SriLankan Airlines serving fivedestinations from the capital, Colombo. This movereflects a growth in tourism in the country, largelyas a result of its newly brokered peace. Flight information is available on: www.srilankan.lk.

Niki Lauda has highhopes

Niki Lauda, Austria’s ex-Formula 1 world championand the founder of Lauda Air, is reported to be

paying €4 million for a majority stake in theAustrian charter operations of Aero Lloyd, whichfiled for bankruptcy in October. The airline, whichis called FlyNiki, though he says this is only atemporary name, will fly from Vienna to Egypt,Madeira and the Canaries. It took off for the firsttime on 24 November.The original Lauda Air was launched in 1980. MrLauda resigned in 2000, thus allowing majorityowner Austrian Airlines to take full control andreposition it as its charter carrier. Lauda, whoqualified as a professional pilot after starting theairline, is still its nominal president. He is said to be

Check seat availability

Risk of collision on the upRecent air space reforms in Australia are causingconcern in the airline industry. Roger Allnutt looksat the reasons

There has been a chorus of concern from pilots andair traffic controllers around Australia at theintroduction by the Australian government of new air-space rules that came into effect on 27 November.The new system, which will allow light lanes into areasused by commercial airliners and involve a reliance onvisual checks for other aircraft, has been roundlycriticised by the air industry unions, which claim thatthe risks are too great under the new system.Based on the system operating in the United States,light planes operating above 3,000 metres (10,000feet) must now use transponders.These are radar devices that makeaircraft visible to air traffic controllersand commercial craft.The rules do away with therequirement that light aircraft stay intouch by radio, adopting the USmodel of 'see and avoid'. TheNational Airspace Systemimplementation group has declaredthat the system is safe and that thesafety concerns expressed publiclyare not sufficient to warrant anypostponement of its introduction.

The Australian Federation of Airline Pilots and theair traffic controllers' union are firmly against thechanges and have suggested that the risk of mid-aircollision was significantly increased under the newsystem. In the first few days of operation, therewere reports that a number of air safety breacheshad occurred, especially by light aircraft whosetransponders were not functioning properly.Hobart, Launceston and Alice Springs airports wereamong those considered to be most at risk,according to a list released by the Australian andInternational Pilots Association.It will be interesting to see what happens in thenext few months as the Australian governmentpresses ahead with the new system.


TRAVELMATTERS14

Stelios gets the busEasyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou is said to be intalks with bus manufacturersregarding the acquisition of a fleet ofvehicles for use by his latestventure, easyBus. This is expectedto start operating by the spring ofthis year. The low-cost intercity point-to-point service will use a similarmarketing model to his successfulairline, with fares starting from aslittle as £1. Its first route is likely tobe London–Birmingham. EasyBuswill compete directly withMegabus, which is the budgetoperator that was launched lastSeptember by Stagecoach.

© Alexander Jonsson

©

© Stephan Tophoven

© Vasco Garcia

© Daniel Lynch/Newscast

© D. Lausberg

Low flying aidsair quality

We hear a lot about the environmentalhavoc wreaked by air travel, but leadingscientists say that it could apparently bebrought under control if aircraft were tocruise at a lower altitude and flew instraight lines. It sounds simple, asexperts say that the rapid rise in emissions from airtransport could be halted if the industry operatedmore efficiently.This is what Keith Mans, chief executive of the UK’sRoyal Aeronautical Society, claims. ‘If we invest intechnology, invest in operational improvements andlook at the problems in a holistic way, there is agood chance that we will be able to at least stabiliseemissions in the medium term,’ he said.Research suggests that by flying 6,000 feet lowerthan the current cruising altitude, airlines could cutthe damage caused by vapour trails by as much as47 per cent. They would, however, burn more fuelif they did this. Vapour emissions are thought to bea major contributor to global warming.

© Chris White


TRAVELMATTERS 15

Air Canada gets newowner

It looks like Air Canada will be getting a newowner, as it agrees to accept a $650 million bail-outfrom Hong Kong-based businessman Victor Li, theson of one of Asia’s richest men and himself aCanadian citizen, in exchange for a 31 per centstake in the carrier. This is being seen as a movethat will help the Star Alliance airline emerge from

bankruptcy protection. That said, however, the move has had a devastatingeffect on Air Canada shares, which have now beenrendered virtually worthless. Mr Li has said he willfund the purchase himself or perhaps use the assetsof his family, which owns the world's biggest portoperator and invests in telecommunications,property and drug stores.Creditors will get a stake of about 56 per cent ofthe carrier, which has 336 aircraft and 31,000employees. The agreement is subject to a numberof conditions, including the future funding of itspension plans and approval by the Ontario court.

BA man in drug plotFirst drink and now drugs… A senior BritishAirways employee was arrested on 2 December inconnection with a £13 million international cocainesmuggling plot. He worked in BA’s engineeringdepartment and was arrested in a raid after a long-running police and customs surveillance operation.He and five others were charged with planning ascheme to bring in the drug on BA flights fromaround the world. The man is accused of collectingpackages from drug couriers on the flights, using hisairline pass to evade security.Police say he wasinvolved in bringing 200 kilos via this route over thepast three or four months.

Flying nanniesFirst it was the Flying Doctor, then the Flying Nunand now Gulf Air is introducing the Flying Nanny onits Sydney-Bahrain-London service. Roger Allnuttreports

Gulf Air claims that it is a first for an airline toprovide specialised care for the under-12sthroughout their journey. The service is available onall classes of the Airbus 340 jets that are used onthe long-haul run.The in-flight team of professional, qualified nannies(all female) will keep youngsters entertained andfed, giving parents the opportunity to relax. Itshould also be a boon for other passengers, whoare often inconvenienced by crying babies andfractious children. Note will be taken of any special dietaryrequirements and children's meals will be servedbefore adults. There will also be the usual additionalchild-friendly ‘activities’, such as books, games andTV channels available to keep children entertained.The service has been developed with the assistanceof one of the world’s best-known childcare andeducational schools, the Bath-based NorlandCollege in the UK, a special child-care trainingcourse has been established for flight attendants andothers chosen to be the 'sky nannies'.

Bending overbackwardsAir travel can often be rather stressful – not justpsychologically, with delays and lots of waitingaround, but also physically. Waiting in longqueues, lifting heavy baggage and sitting incramped airline seats all contribute to discomfortin the back. However, whether you are travelling for businessor pleasure, help is now at hand. A new product,called the Impleo®, has been launched and itoffers some relief from the stresses and strains ofair travel. The device works by gentlydecompressing and stretching out the spine whilelying back in an inclined and arched position. It was developed by Jeff Chandler, who came upwith the idea after suffering from back pain formany years, following a car accident. Hedesigned the product to provide relief from theconstant downwards pressure on the spine andpoor posture caused not only by travelling butalso by daily activities such as office work,gardening, housework and sports. Used for just 10 minutesbefore and after traveling,it can help minimise backstiffness considerably. Theproduct is pending aninternational patent and iscurrently being consideredfor inclusion in airports andtrain waiting rooms.

Travelling ferretsAlpine forests and Mediterranean beaches havebeen beckoning for fats and dogs for some time,how, but new European rules on harmonisingpassports for pets now also include ferrets. Adecision adopted by the European Commissionon 27 November means that a standard EUpassport must in future be issued to petstravelling outside their home country.The documents, which will become effectivefrom July of this year, provide proof that thebearer has been vaccinated against rabies andother diseases. They will carry a unique number,corresponding to a microchip or tattoo on theanimal, and will replace national passports andother paperwork. The pet passport will be the sole requirementfor domestic animals travelling to all EU memberstates, except for Ireland, Sweden and Britain,which require additional tests for ticks andtapeworm. It will also apply to the 10 countriesthat are joining in May, extending pan-Europeantravel as far afield as Cyprus and Estonia.Ferrets became eligible for EU-wide travel last

year, after intenselobbying fromBritain. There areapparently twomillion pet ferrets inthe UK. Bags not be the oneto give a ferret amicrochip or tattoo!

Terror alert over Hallowe’en gunA security alert on Capitol Hill was triggered by aHallowe’en costume on 30 October, Hundreds of policewere mobilised after reports that intruders armed with arevolver were wandering around offices used by the USHouse of Representatives in Washington DC.A guard at the Cannon building told officers that theyhad seen a man go through an X-ray machine with asuspicious object in his backpack. It later emerged that

two women employeeshad brought Hallowe’encostumes to work, one ofwhich contained a toyplastic gun. It’s not clear who musthave looked sillier – thewomen or the guards.

GRAPEVINE•GRAPEVINE•GRAPEVINE•GRAPEVINE•GRAPEVINE•GRAPEV INE•G

RAPEVIN

E•GRA

PEVINE•G

RAPEVIN

E•GRA

PEVINE•G

RAPEVIN

E•GRA

PEVINE•G

RAPEVIN

E•GRA

PEVINE•G

RAPEVIN

E•GR

APEVINE•GRAPEVINE•GRAPEVINE•GRAPEVINE•GRAPEVINE•GRAPEVINE•GRA

PEVI

NE•

GRA

PEVI

NE•

GRA

PEVI

NE•

GRA

PEVI

NE•

GRA

PEVI

NE•

GRA

PEVI

NE•

GRA

PEVI

NE•

GRA

PEVI

NE•

GRA

PEVI

NE•

GRA

PEV

© Paul Dopson

© Bo Kim

GGRRAAPPEEVVIINNEE


HEALTHMATTERS16

Will SARS return?It was one of the biggest concerns among insurerslast winter, and the question they are all askingthemselves at the moment is whether it will flare upagain this winter. It’s a distinct possibility, if onlybecause almost all viruses that attack the respiratorysystem are more likely to do this in winter andSARS experts are not sure if the disease was trulydefeated earlier this year or whether it just reachedthe end of it natural cycle and is now preparing tostrike again. A researcher for pharmaceutical company Chiron inItaly, which is developing a vaccine against SARS,admits that this may well be the case, in which caseSARS is likely to come back within the next fewmonths. The crucial thing is whether it will comeback on a global scale, which would be aworldwide emergency, or just in a few isolatedcases in China. Two extremes, but two distinctpossibilities … The insurance industry must bewondering.The World Health Organisation (WHO) has calledthe possibility of the return of SARS one of themost pressing issues facing public health agenciesaround the world. If SARSdoes return, however,health officials say that theyshould have the upper handbecause they now know somuch more about the virusand therefore about how tokeep it in check.

But all the research that has been done on SARS inan attempt to find a vaccine or treatment hasproduced a new threat. In August, a 27-year-oldSingaporean researcher became infected in a high-security laboratory. It was the first confirmed case ofSARS since June. This highlights the possibility of labaccidents and of scientific efforts creating a newreservoir of the virus. The World HealthOrganisation (WHO) says this is a considerable risk.

China to test vaccine on humansChina is planning to begin testing an experimentalSARS vaccine on humans by the beginning of 2004.Tests of the vaccine on monkeys showed that it waseffective in fighting SARS and had no serious side-effects, and people are the next stage.The development of a vaccine has been unusuallyfast and has overtaken other areas of research intothe illness, such as finding an effective treatment.Being the first to develop a vaccine has become amatter of national pride for China. But the WHOhas said that it believes it will be two years orlonger before a vaccine will be ready.

Arguing for equal treatmentEU Commissioner Ms Ana Diamantopoulou hasrequested details of cases seen by UK MedicalEmergency Services in some EU Member States,where health benefits available to local residents arenot being provided to temporary residents. Thisfollows correspondence between the British MedicalEmergency Service Forum (BMESF) and the EUCommission for Employment and Social Affairs,concerning cases in Spain and Portugal where Britishpatients presenting at public hospitals weretransferred to private healthcare centres, which theninvoiced the patient or the insurance company forthe treatment given.In a recent letter to BMESF Chairman Jon Phillips,Rob Cornelissen, writing on behalf of CommissionerDiamantopoulou, reminded BMESF that Article 22(1) (a) of Regulation (EEC) 1408/71 sets out theentitlement of a temporary resident of one EUmember state when visiting another. Mr Cornelissenparaphrased the article: ‘An insured person isentitled to equal treatment in the state of stay as anational of the state of stay,’ and commented thatthis was designed to protect freedom of movementwithin EU Member States of all its citizens regardlessof nationality.BMESF is concerned that British tourists and theirinsurance companies are being denied reciprocalhealthcare benefits that are available to the localpopulation. A number of companies report privateclinics invoicing for treatment to British patients whohave been referred to their centres by the publichospitals under local partnership arrangements, andinvestigations show that this does not happen withlocal residents.There are also reports of public hospitals refusingtreatment to a patient unless a valid E111 proof ofentitlement form is produced on admission. Thepatient is asked for evidence of private insuranceand moved to a private clinic, not necessarily thenearest one, where again treatment is invoiced tothe patient or the insurance company. However, as Mr Cornelissen says, ‘if the personconcerned is not able to submit an E111 form tothe healthcare provider in the state of stay, he canpay for the treatment himself and be reimbursed

after he returns to the state where he is insured byhis own social security institution, or he can contactthe institution of the state of stay, which will requestan E111 form from the competent institution.’BMESF is concerned that, in many cases, neither thepatient nor the insurance company is offered eitherof these options, in spite of the fact that all medicalemergency services will arrange for a retrospectiveE111 for the benefit of the clinic. It seems the EUCommission would consider this discriminatoryagainst British temporary residents and has askedBMESF for specific case details to be provided so thatit can discuss the matter with the relevant authoritiesin Spain and Portugal.BMESF and ITIJ would both be interested to hearfrom medical emergency services or travel insurers inother countries that feel their nationals may also besubject to discriminatory practice. Contact details areavailable on the BMESF website (www.bmesf.org.uk).

DO YOU KNOW YOUR RIGHTS?The RIGHT place (worldwide) at the RIGHT time (whenever you

need us) for the RIGHT price (we have a worldwide networkthrough our providers, that save you time and money)

Over our 30+ year history we have developed a flawless process fortransferring your patient with the maximum amount of comfort and safety,

while minimizing the costs.

Worldwide experience for 30+ years (See recent transfers below)

We are ready for your call 24/365

Aircraft in our network are located as close as possible to your patient, tosave you time and money!

Critical Care and Trauma Specialists

Commercial Stretchers and Medical Escorts

2003 TRANSFERSLuxor, Egypt to Cairo, Egypt (2)

New Jersey, USA to Damascus, SyriaNew Orleans, Louisiana to Manila, Philippines (2)

Atlanta, Georgia to Düsseldorf, GermanySan Jose, California to Istanbul, Turkey

Stanford, CA to Tacoma, WA (Neonatal 2 month old baby)

1-800-327-1966Air Ambulance Network

905 Martin Luther King Jr. DriveTarpon Springs, Florida 34689

USATel: +1 800 327 1966 * Tel: + 1 727 934 3999 * FAX + 1 727 937 0276

Email: [email protected]

www.airambulancenetwork.com

English speaking operators available on:1 800-327-1966

Bahamas 1-800-522-3467Puerto Rico 1-800-327-1966

United Kingdom 0-800-89-10-61Mexico 95-800-010-0027Jamaica 0-800-422-2181

Japan 1 800 460 4410Barbados 1-800-762-7022

Dominican Republic 1-800-722-7086

One of our providers’ aircraft

DO YOU KNOW YOUR RIGHTS?The RIGHT place (worldwide) at the RIGHT time (whenever you

need us) for the RIGHT price (we have a worldwide networkthrough our providers, that save you time and money)

Over our 30+ year history we have developed a flawless process fortransferring your patient with the maximum amount of comfort and safety,

while minimizing the costs.

Worldwide experience for 30+ years (See recent transfers below)

We are ready for your call 24/365

Aircraft in our network are located as close as possible to your patient, tosave you time and money!

Critical Care and Trauma Specialists

Commercial Stretchers and Medical Escorts

2004 TRANSFERS

Indian, USA to Bogotá, ColumbiaMinnesota, USA to Kuwait

Florida, USA to EnglandCozumel, Mexico to USAEcuador to Florida, USA

1-800-327-1966Air Ambulance Network

905 Martin Luther King Jr. DriveTarpon Springs, Florida 34689

USATel: +1 800 327 1966 * Tel: + 1 727 934 3999 * FAX + 1 727 937 0276

Email: [email protected]

The outsourcing of jobs to India has hit theheadlines recently and has not been hailed asgood news by everyone. In India itself, though, itis a story of pride, prejudice and new insurancevistas. Saby Ganguly reports from Bombay andlooks at what the future holds

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is India’shottest new economic sector. It is projected to beworth over US$24 billion and to employ 1.1 millionpeople by 2008. That’s a lot of money and a lot ofpeople. But, in spite of this – or perhaps because of it – it istaking its toll on Indian pride, while stoking angstover a perceived western prejudice. In the face of

the outcry against outsourcing, India’s BPO wallahshave steeled their resolve and are taking heart fromrecent decisions by some western multinationals tocontinue outsourcing, in spite of all the opposition.

Looking in a crystal ballBut what does the future hold for the outsourcingindustry? Will it come to be seen in the West as anunacceptably profit-driven anti-national act, forcingcompanies to stop exporting jobs? Or will the needto keep costs low be enough reason for them tooverlook the protests? ‘The whole BPO business is primarily based on lowcosts,’ Bombay-based Web entrepreneur, PranavSatya, told ITIJ. ‘Most of the BPO jobs we get are

voice-based, requiring native Indians to learnwestern accents, often with disastrous results. Ourcall centre operatives also have to pretend they arenot Indians, that they are located close to wherethe western caller is calling from. The operativesalso have to take false western names. This isalmost impersonation, basic dishonesty, a disowningof one’s self. The slogan, ‘Be proud to be Indian’has gone for a toss.’However, Satya, like almost all others in India’s BPOfield, is dismissive of the anti-outsourcing outcry inwestern countries. ‘The number of jobs coming toIndia’s BPO sector is only in thousands, not millions,as of now. Foreign nationals are also beingemployed in India. For example, Britain’s Prudential

has some 40 British nationals employed in Bombay.Technovate, a European travel company, has beenhiring foreigners to work in India since mid-2003.Outsourcing makes no difference at the macro levelas far as western job markets are concerned, but itdoes make a positive difference to their businessbottom-line since outsourced functions cost about40 per cent less than they otherwise would.’Satya also sees the protests as ‘nothing more than areflection of western prejudice against India. Theydidn’t protest so much when manufacturingindustries went from the West to southeast Asiancountries, but why are they so agitated only now,when technology-enabled services are beingexported?’

The oppositionBe that as it may, there can be no denying anincreasingly strident opposition to outsourcing ingeneral. Texas (US)-based Dell Computers hasdecided to scale down technical support calls toIndia because, according to spokesperson JohnWeisblatt (as quoted in The Times of India), itscustomers have complained, in particular, of ‘thickaccents and poor service’. Another adverse development for India is a blanketban on outsourcing by the state of New Jersey inthe US. The fear is that more states in the US maysee this as a worthy example and may follow suit.In Britain, Lloyds TSB bank is in trouble over adecision to open a call centre in India. According toreports in the Indian media, the local council inNewcastle had paid Lloyds TSB £230,000 from theexchequer two years ago to set up a call centre inTyneside, which it did, resulting in jobs for 960locals. Now, the bank has announced that it wouldclose this centre in 2004 and move the operationto India. It remains to be seen if Lloyds TSB standsby its decision or gives in to public pressure in whatcould be a test case.Overall, however, India’s BPO sector is goingstrong. A study by Phil Taylor of the University ofStirling and Peter Bain of the University ofStrathclyde (both in Scotland) predicts that Scottishcall centres could see a flood of jobs shipped toIndia in the next few years. Taylor and Bain havereportedly spent the past 18 months studying callcentres in Scotland and India, and have identifiedseveral big attractions in sending jobs overseas inthe near future, in spite of a slew of hidden coststhat could discourage further offshoring in thelonger-term.

Indian take-awayIndian take-away


NEWSANALYSIS 18

And if this applies to Scotland, there is littlereason why it should not apply equally well tothe UK on the whole and other Europeancountries, argues Pranav Satya, Webentrepreneur in Bombay.

The insurance worldPerhaps the strongest vote of confidence in thesurvivability of India’s BPO business has comefrom the insurance world. Global insurancebroker and risk manager, Aon, in an arrangementwith Lloyd’s of London insurers Kiln and Liberty,has sold a unique insurance policy to anundisclosed European airline that is setting up callcentres in India. The policy protects the airline’soutsourcing investments from unforeseentroubles and covers relocation costs in the eventof things such as war, terrorism, trade embargo,strike or expropriation by the host government. According to reports published in India, CharlesKeville, Aon’s director of counter-terrorism andpolitical risk, says he is lining up similar policies forfinancial houses and software companies thathave outsourced. ‘People have been on thephone within minutes of finding out that suchinsurance is available,’ Keville is quoted as saying.In the next issue of ITIJ, News analysis will look atthe issue of outsourcing jobs to India from thewestern point of view.


NEWSANALYSIS 19

The road to DamascusWhen Zaher Sadaoui was studying the Germanlanguage in Germany 30 years ago, in preparationfor a degree in engineering in Cologne, his hostfamily said to him, ‘Why is it that all of the Syrianswho come here only study medicine orengineering? Look at that 2x2 metre shop acrossthe street. It has 12 types of insurance – fire, theft,accident, etc.’ And that changed Zaher’s life. He has been in theinsurance business ever since. He son, Waiel,returned to Syria from Europe in 1884 after eightyears of studying and working in the insurance field,and then became a partner in his father’sindependent company. Now, this father-and-son team – and otherinsurance specialists like them – are excited aboutthe prospect of private banks soon opening in Syriaafter an absence of more than 40 years and areasking themselves whether the private banks willopen the way for private insurance.

Syria, like its wartorn nextdoor neighbour, Iraq, isbasically a virgin market. With $84 million inpremiums paid to the state insurance company in2000, Syria has one of the smallest insurancemarkets in the world. Premiums paid in Qatar inthe same year totalled $158 million, in spite of thefact that Qatar has a population 30 times smallerthan that of Syria.Although some people have a hard time believingthat Syria will really open its markets after over 40years of a socialist economy, there are neverthelesssigns that change is, in fact, taking place. Threebanks have been approved to operate in Wyria andtishrin University in Lattakia has begun holdingevening classes in insurance. There are many 2x2 metre shops in Syria, andthere are many eager insurance experts like ZaherSadaoui and his son. They are looking forward tothe day when the road to Damascus will be open.

INSURANCE MATTERScontinued from p.1

The lure of lucreAs we read what Saby has to say, we read thatthousands of young call centre workers in India arecelebrating the new experience of having money inthe pockets of their new designer jeans. They arewatching soaps like EastEnders and CoronationStreet, even Friends in an attempt to perfect theirEnglish (or American) and to make themselvessound as ‘local’ as possible.Because it is not only the UK that is relocating jobsto India. Thousands of Indians are staffing operationsthat have been established not only by British, butalso by American and Australian firms in the past fiveyears. The companies concerned reckon they canmake cost savings of as much as 70 per cent ondomestic operations, by paying much lower wagesthan they would have to cough up in the West. But in Indian terms, the money is amazing. An annualincome of £5,000 may not seem much to us in theWest, but in this part of the world, it’s a smallfortune. As a result, the people who are taking call-centre jobs, tempted by the money on offer, are alsodoctors, lawyers and accountants, all of whom areprepared to do shifts for the pay they’ll get in return. They take western names and they practise theiraccents, they download British tabloids so they knowwhat their customers are reading, and they evenattend seminars on the Royal family. Some peoplehave raised concerns about the loss of identity thatthis must entail and the problem of developing splitpersonalities, but this is of little concern to theseemployees and most of them are hooked.

Kidnap and ransom is a highly profitable business,with some 15,000 incidents a year worldwide anda market value well in excess of $500 million ayear. Not surprisingly – because people always seeopportunities where they exist – the K&Rinsurance industry is growing at a correspondinglyhealth rate. For those of you who missed Dr SeanKeogh’s fascinating talk on the subject at ITIC inRome, he has adapted it for you to read here

Kidnapping is often portrayed as a spur of themoment, irrational, cultural phenomenon. It is not.Kidnapping is most often carried out by well-organised terrorist and criminal gangs and is veryprofitable. It is estimated that there are around 15,000 kidnapsa year worldwide, with about 80 per cent occurringin Latin America. Kidnapping is now big businesswith a market value well in excess of $500 million a

year and rising.Ransom amounts vary with the country involvedbut demands of several million dollars are notuncommon, though amounts may be as little as$200 or less for a local farmer. Average ransomsare now decreasing, as the wealthier take greaterprecautions, thus displacing risk to the less wealthy.

Who and where?In most countries, about 90 per cent of hostagesoriginate from the poorly protected local middleclasses but rich pickings are found in countries withhigher rates of foreign domestic investment andwhere multinational corporations operate –although foreigners account for only 10 per cent ofvictims, ransoms are usually much higher than thosedemanded for locals. New economic territorydevelopment and the presence of naturalresources, attracting multinationals and their staff,

are providing thesteady supply ofpotential victimsupon whichkidnapping thrives. Although well publicised, it is stillrare for tourists in at-risk countries to be kidnappedbut the risk exists, especially for those venturing offthe beaten track. Although often lucrative, kidnapping is not alwaysabout money. Several countries, such as Chechnyaand the Yemen, still resort to kidnap primarily as apolitical weapon, but political organisations in manycountries (particularly in Latin America) now usekidnapping more as a means of extracting cash tofund their cause, mostly because of a decline infunding from sources such as the former SovietUnion. Other organisations or individuals simplykidnap as a convenient method of wealthgeneration. This distinction sometimes becomesblurred; in April 2000, the Islamic fundamentalistgroup Abu Sayyaf orchestrated the mass kidnappingof westerners in the Philippines, where initialpolitical demands were eventually overshadowedby the payment of a large financial ransom. Like all criminals, a kidnapper will weigh up the risksof being caught and punished versus the potentiallylarge rewards on offer. About 15–20 per cent ofkidnappers are caught (more in developed nationssuch as the UK and the US). Countries with a weak legal and legislativeframework are higher risk for kidnap episodes,especially where corruption is rife: Jose Balbontin,the former Mexican Chief of Police, was sentencedto 50 years in prison in 2000 following revelationsthat he was a long-term member of a gang involvedin kidnapping.

The badlandsKidnapping can happen anywhere, but by far themost occur in Latin America. Colombia tops theworld with over 1400 kidnappings reported so farthis year. This high rate may partly reflect the factthat Colombia is making efforts to combatkidnapping and is trying to accurately record figures

– not all countries are as diligent. About 80 per centof kidnaps in Colombia are carried out by theMarxist-Leninist FARC in Central and SouthernColombia and ELN in Central and Northernregions. Forty percent of FARC income originatesfrom kidnapping and the kidnapping business inColombia is worth between $150million and$500million per year, with average ransom figuresprobably being around $130,000. Abduction occursmainly outside towns and cities and Colombia isone of the countries where adventure tourists areat greater risk, though the chance of a tourist beingkidnapped is still very low.Mexico is second on the list for kidnap frequency,and the comparison of abduction tactics between

Mexico and Colombia illustrates how individualkidnappers will adapt to the differing responses and

effectiveness of local police and securityforces; criminal gangs operating in cities inMexico, where detection rates are relativelyhigh, use more violence to frighten thosenegotiating in order to make them pay upquickly (so reducing the chance of beingcaught). In rural Colombia, powerful guerrillagroups operating in demilitarised zones areoften effectively beyond the force of law andcan extract concessions over longer periodsof time. Colombian tactics include ‘thedouble’, with a second payment beingdemanded after the first, particularly if thefirst is paid quickly in a panic, suggesting tothe kidnappers that they have pitched theirransom demand too low. The confidence ofColombian gangs in drawing out negotiationsin this way illustrates their degree of


FEATURE20

Richpickings

contempt for law enforcement.Other countries where kidnapping is endemicinclude Brazil, the former Soviet Union, Philippines,Nigeria, parts of India, Ecuador and Venezuela. An increasing problem is the rise in recordednumbers of piracy incidents on the high seas, with344 attacks in the first 9 months of 2003, thehighest since international records began in 1991.Piracy may include kidnapping with particular black-spots now well identified; the Malacca Straitsbetween Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore forcelarge merchant vessels to slow down to negotiateshallow waters, leaving the ship vulnerable to attack.Local Aceh rebels have taken crews hostage anddemanded ransoms to pay for heavy weapons tofight for their political cause. The going rate for

release now is around £60,000, which is usuallypaid rapidly. On occasion, tourists on smallerpleasure boats have also been victims of abduction.

Chances of survivalMost kidnap victims survive their ordeal, but theprocess of release can be drawn out over monthsor even years. Kidnappers may terrorise with aninitial silence of months, but will almost alwaysnegotiate and figures show that 70 per cent ofhostages will be released after negotiation andransom payment. In fact, 10 per cent will bereleased without any ransom payment at all.Although the popular press and Hollywood have

immortalised the concept of hostage rescue byprivate individuals or companies, this is not the casein reality; any rescue attempt is carried out by thenational army of the country in which the kidnaphas occurred, with about 10 per cent of kidnapsresulting in a rescue. Unfortunately rescue attemptsare fraught with danger; of the 10 per cent of

victims who do not survive a kidnapping, mostdeaths are due to a failed escape or rescue attemptor to complications resulting from a hostage’s pre-existing medical problems, for instance poorlycontrolled diabetes or heart disease.

The K&R insurance industryThe K&R insurance industry is growing at 15–20per cent per year and covers policyholders againstlosses resulting from a kidnap incident. K&R insurersoffer preventive measure advice, financialreimbursement and paid access to kidnap responseconsultants. Following policy sale the risk is thenplaced with underwriters (such as Lloyd’s who nowhave 75 per cent of the market). At present, it isestimated that only about one per cent of kidnapsare covered by K&R insurance.The K&R response consultant works independentlyof the policy and advises the client, who decides onransom payout value. The policy is one ofreimbursement of loss by underwriters after theevent; the family or employer actually pays thekidnappers the ransom, not the underwriter.It is important to realise that this is anindemnification policy and insurers will not insurefor an amount greater than net assets of companyor individual. This is significant because most K&Rinsurers will have a minimum sum insured of at least

£500,000-£1m. Minimumpremiums start at around£2,000. Most travel insurers andtour operators areconcerned about thekidnap of holidaymakersrather than those whowork abroad forcorporations, and thesefigures clearly leave thevast majority of adventuretourists and travellers outof the game. Because touroperators work on verysmall margins, most wouldalso find such premiumpayments out of thequestion. It is usually acondition of K&R

insurance that policies remain secret and because ofthis clause, a tour company would not even be ableto advise its clients that K&R insurance was in place;even if they were providing what might be seen asa commercially attractive duty of care, they wouldbe unable to advise potential clients of that fact. Asset Security Managers, a leading K&R insurer, hasbeen approached in the past from travel agents and

travel insurers seeking cover. A spokesman explains;‘like travel insurance, kidnap insurance would betaken out in the individual’s name, so it is theindividual’s assets that are considered when settingthe sum insured, which means that mostindependent travellers are ineligible. Not only that,but travel agents recognise that identifying the needto take out K&R insurance doesn’t exactly promotea good reputation for a holiday destination. Basically,K&R insurance is not something that can simply bepackaged up with a travel policy and because there

is no insurable interest, travel agentscannot buy the cover on behalf of theirclients anyway’. Although very few tourists will take onK&R insurance, the problem of kidnapabroad is an increasing concern.Education is the key to prevention,particularly for vulnerable individualtravellers and central to this is the accessand sharing of reliable and up to dateinformation. Individuals must managetheir own risk by being sensible andresponsible. The Foreign Office’s traveladvice service is useful but the advicegiven is very broad; an improvementmay be to present advice in differentways for different types of travellers,using up to date internet technology.Most importantly, travellers should haveknowledge of local risk and adhere tobasic safety principles, being aware oftheir surroundings, keeping a low profileand an unpredictable routine. Theyshould always let a contact know wherethey are and what their plans are. Thoseat particular risk should consider specifictraining.

www.itij.co.uk n International Travel Insurance Journalwww.itij.co.uk International Travel Insurance Journal

FEATURE 21

Surviving a kidnap

• Don’t try to escape unless it is very likely thatyou will succeed

• Obey your captors and be submissive

• Keep as physically and mentally fit as possiblewith mind games and daily exercise

• Eat all that is offered to you

• Try to make friends with your captors andpersonalise your relationship with them

• Try not to negotiate yourself as this mayinterfere with others negotiating on yourbehalf

• Be aware that a rescue attempt may occur –decide how you will react ahead of time andidentify the safest place to be

• Don’t fall in love with your kidnapper!

Latin American insurance companies have thereputation, when things go wrong, of being quickto repatriate their insureds, regardless of themedical condition involved. Joaquin Rodriguezexamines the proposition

Although still small compared to the US orEuropean markets, the Latin American travelinsurance market is gaining importance year afteryear. When economies grow and the currencystrengthens, Latin Americans like to indulgethemselves in foreign travel. What first motivates Latin Americans to travel,however, is the prospect of visiting friends andrelatives. According to a study carried out byInfoAmericas – a leading market intelligence andstrategic consulting firm – more than 70 per cent oftrips are planned around visits to loved ones, whichis almost double the rate in the US. As more LatinAmericans migrate abroad, mainly to the US, thepotential demand for outbound travel keepsgrowing, spiking when local currencies arestrongest.

The biggest economiesMexico, Brazil and Argentina are the biggesteconomies in the region and also the main travelmarkets. Mexico, with a population of around 100million, continues to lead Latin America as the largestsource of outbound tourists thanks to a stable andstrong currency and increased links with the US.Outbound travel volume is highly correlated withper capita GDP (expressed in dollars).In 1994, more than 12 million Mexicans travelledabroad, most commonly visiting family and friends inthe US. In 1995, the 60 per cent devaluation of thepeso led to a 35 per cent drop in Mexico’s dollar-denominated per capita GDP. This caused aproportionate decline in outbound travel from 12million to 8 million tourists. And as Mexican dollarpurchasing power has gradually recovered, so hasoutbound travel volume. 2002 was a record yearfor outbound Mexican tourism, in spite of the 11September attacks and rising unemployment inMexico. Close to two-thirds of Mexicans travel to visit familyand friends. With an estimated 350,000 Mexicansmoving permanently to the US each year, there isalways more family to visit in the US. Another 1.2million Mexicans cross the border each year forseasonal labour but return quickly to Mexico and donot tend to attract visitors when abroad. OutboundMexican travellers also include Mexican businesspeople flying overseas in pursuit of trade.

Brazilian travel patternsBrazilian outbound travel patterns are also tightly

linked with economic growth (expressed in USdollars). Flat growth and a 30 per cent decline inthe real’s value in 2002 have produced furtherdeclines in outbound travel, already reeling after the1999 devaluation of the real. Only 2 millionBrazilians left the county in 2002, less than half theamount in 1998, when the currency was at itsstrongest.According to InfoAmericas, Brazilians travel abroadless frequently than Mexicans for several reasons.The most important is that Brazilians are more tiedto home than Mexicans. The number of Braziliancitizens living abroad is less than two million out of apopulation of 165 million – just over one per cent.In comparison, no fewer than 12 million Mexicansreside abroad, about 11 per cent of the Mexican-born population. Visiting friends and relativestherefore draws relatively few Brazilians abroad.When it comes to business travel, total internationaltrade (imports plus exports) totals about US $115billion for Brazil versus US $361 billion for Mexico. Mexicans almost invariably confront visa obstacleswhen travelling abroad, whereas Brazilians can

travel to Europe, and to neighbouring Mercosurcountries, without a visa. Nonetheless, the relativegeographic isolation of Brazil from the traveldestinations favoured by its residents means thattravel costs are high, limiting the numbers who canafford to leave the country. Travel by Brazilians to the US has been slowed by

the events of 11 September. More than 30 per centof outbound Brazilians head for the US to see thecountry, study there, and to shop for luxury itemsthat are far cheaper than at home. The prospectsfor the future are that Brazilian outbound travel willslowly begin to recover.

Argentinian touristsAs for Argentina, during the 1990s thenumber of outbound touristsincreased by 92 per cent thanks tothe parity between the dollar and thepeso, raising from 2,398,00 tourists in1990 to 4,591,000 in 1998.Nevertheless, these figures must becarefully considered as the statisticsrefer to tourists travelling more thanonce to different destinations. In fact,local tour operators estimate thatArgentines nowadays prefer to makeshort trips abroad rather thanspending one long month away onholidays, subsequently affecting official

statistics. The main destination has always beenUruguay (1,300,000 travellers in 1998) followed byChile (760,000), Paraguay (560,000) and Brazil(500,000). Travels to neighbouring countriestherefore account for the vast majority of the totalnumber of travels made by Argentines (77 per centin 1998). The acute economic crisis that affected

State v. private healthcare – part 6Repatriation – at any cost?


FEATURE22

the country over the last three years has had atremendous impact on the Argentinian travelindustry, which is slowly trying to recover atpresent.When it comes to travel insurance, statistics for theregion are difficult to obtain. Nevertheless, andalthough every country represents a different realityand policy prices and coverage differ from onenation to another, it is commonly agreed thatmaximum medical expense coverage is substantiallylow when compared to that in the US or Europe.Another presumption is that local companies preferto repatriate clients in favour of paying out formedical expenses, even when it might have been

considered best to treat the client locally. Most of the main companies operating in the LatinAmerican travel insurance and assistance marketagree to accept that the average maximum medicalexpense coverage is low, but they utterly reject theclaim that their repatriation policies are based onfinancial criteria. Here follows their points of viewon these apparently controversial issues.

In case of assistanceAssist-Card has beencommercialising a wide range oftravel assistance-related productsin 17 Latin American countriessince 1972 and they roughlyhave 1.5 million clients in theregion, for whom they annuallyhandle around 45,000 assistancecases. Assist-Card owns andoperates over 40 offices in thearea, including premises in majorairports, with more than 2,000

employees working full-time. A standard insurance policy, such as Assist-CardClassic, can cost the final client around US $93 for aperiod of 15 days. The medical expense coveragecan vary between US $6,000 and 250,000,depending on the characteristics of the product.They even have a premium policy, Assist-CardPrivileged, with a maximum coverage of US$1,000,000.Alexia Keglevich, Assist-Card managing director,thinks that costs are certainly cheaper in LatinAmerica than in the US or Europe due to thedevaluation of the dollar and the appreciationof the euro. Ms Keglevich explains thatrepatriations have an average cost of US$40,000, but when the repatriations takeplace between American countries, the costgoes down. During 2003, Assist-Card hascarried out 21 repatriations from Europe andthe US to Latin America.Ms Keglevich dismisses the idea that LatinAmerican companies prefer to repatriate their

patients. ‘It is quite the opposite, I would say,’ sheassured us. ‘Generally speaking, and due to LatinAmerican low medical standards, our patients preferto stay in their destination. ‘The decision to repatriate a patient is alwaysentirely down to our specialised medical teams andto the patient’s family. Never, and it is both againstour company policy and the nature of our business,do we order the repatriation of anyone whenhospitalization has been clinically recommended,’


FEATURE 23


FEATURE24

she emphases.

Going DutchGouda International, part of the Dutch insurancegroup De Goudse NV, is the company behind theISIS insurance products. ISIS – market leader ininsuring student and youth travel – has a nearly 50-year-old history and is sold in over 45 countriesthroughout the world. In Latin America it has beencommercialised in 18 countries since the 70s and atpresent they have a portfolio of 50-60,000policyholders. The ISIS travel insurance is developed in closecooperation with local sales organizations and, aslocal circumstances can vary considerably, mostcountries have their own specific product. InMexico, the price of a two-week policy (to anydestination) is US $29 for students and US $34 for

non students, with a maximum medical expensecoverage of US $50,000. For a US $100,000coverage a student must pay US $41 and a non-student US $50. In Brazil, a student willing to take out an ISIS travelinsurance policy for 16 days will have to pay US$61 for a maximum medical expense coverage ofUS $50,000. There are also several other optionswhich include the following prices: US $64 for a US

$50,000 medical expense coverage; US $76 for aUS $75,000 coverage; and US $88 for a US$100,000 coverage. In Argentina, a two-week policy for a student costsapproximately US $39 for a US $50,000 maximummedical expense coverage and US $46 for a US$100,000 maximum coverage. The prices for anon-student policy are US $44 (US $50,000coverage) and US $52 (US $100,000 coverage).When confronted with the question of low medicalcoverage, Jesús Corredoira, business developmentmanager at the company, believes they are notnecessarily low. ‘In Latin America, we offer aminimum of US $50,000 per event, while in Spain

some competitors offer €6,000 coverage…’ In the case of repatriations, Mr Corredoira is clear.‘You cannot take any risk with a client’s health. Nohospital will allow a patient to be discharged just sothat he can be repatriated. Our medical staff will notapprove any repatriation that carries a risk for theinsured.‘It is a different case when the treatment isnecessary or not,’ he added. ‘Keep in mind thattravel insurance is only a temporary insurance,some non-emergency treatments could bepostponed without any medical problem.’

Better to recover at homeUniversal Assistance provides travel assistanceproducts to 2.6 million clients in Latin Americathrough retailers (travel agencies and tour-operators) and corporate programmes (insurancecompanies and credit cards). They have commercialoffices in nine countries in the region as well asother minor premises in many other Latin Americannations. The company had a turnover of US $15 million in2002, US $11 million less than the previous year,due to the Argentinian monetary devaluation. AUniversal Assistance standard policy for 15 dayscosts US $84 for a medical coverage of US$12,000, or up to US $30,000 if an accidentoccurs. Ignacio Márquez, Universal Assistance internationalbusiness development manager, also agrees thatLatin American health coverage is lower than that

offered by European companies, a circumstancethat according to him is explained by to two mainfactors: volume (less insured people, which makesimpossible to achieve economies of scale) and price(Latin American coverage is more economical thanthat commercialised in Europe). Mr Márquez alsostates that the average cost in Latin America is 60per cent cheaper than in the US.Universal Assistance handles around 40,000 cases ayear worldwide, 34,000 of which are related to itsown assistance programmes. As for repatriations,during last year they carried out 400, includinginterregional (e.g. Uruguay-Argentina) andinternational (e.g. Spain-Argentina) cases. Theircriteria for repatriations are always the same:ailments must permit a repatriation by plane; thecompany also needs to have the consent of boththe patient and his/her family, as well as the consent

of their clients when the patient is a corporateclient; medical authorisation must be obtained; andfinally medical expenses must be within themaximum coverage.Mr Márquez does not completely agree with thepresumption that Latin American companies arequick to repatriate their patients regardless of anymedical consideration. ‘That is not true, since amedical repatriation does not only depend on theconvenience of the insurance company, but on awhole set of medical and professional conditions.’Moreover, Mr Márquez believes that, in manycases, their patients prefer to recover in their owncountries than in faraway destinations. ‘According toour experience, I must say that whenever therepatriation is feasible, our patients want to berepatriated home so that they can recover in theplace where they have both resources andprotection, that is to say, the cities where they liveand where their families are closer.’

A relatively new boy at International SOS, wherehe works as business development manager, MikeRamsay is enjoying every minute. But then heenjoys everything, so that comes as no surprise.He talked his socks off to Anne Johnson

Mike has come a long way from the early daysspent at his mother’s side. A ‘Jack of all trades’, inhis own words, he likes to get involved ineverything he does, be it a favourite song – hisfavourite singer is Cat Stevens – a best-loved movieor a job. Mike is one of the most enthusiasticpeople I have ever had the pleasure of meeting,and sometimes it can be hard to keep up with him.‘I wake up in the morning, feeling that it’s a lovelyday. It’s bound to be. They always are. People sayto me, “Why do you have to love everything,Michael?” But I do – I just do.’And he grins. His looks are suggestive of someoneeven younger than his 25 years. With his tousled,reddish hair, Mike has an infectious, boyish grin, andanyone who spends more than a few minutes in hiscompany will end up grinning too – even if theythought they didn’t feel like it. They just won’t beable to help themselves.

The female presenceMike has what most of us would regard as anenviably close relationship with his family. When hewas a child, they spent half the year in Spain andhalf in England. Most of his time was spent at hismother’s side (his sister, Gabrielle, is nine yearsolder than him), and when it was time for him to goto school, he couldn’t bear to be parted from her. So she had to spend the day at the back of theclass, as a constantly reassuring presence. Which isstrange, really, because he comes across as asupremely confident young man and it’s hard toimagine him needing his mum to be there. He tellsme he’s actually very shy, though, and often rathernervous. He’s obviously good at hiding it. After school and a year doing a GVMQ in businessmanagement, something he recalls as having had‘no positive effect at all’, he went to China. WithoutMum? Yes, but his sister, who was known as‘Mummy 2’ and was also very protective of him,was living there at the time with her husband whoworked for an oil company.So while his trip to Hong Kong represented his firststep out of reclusiveness and into the big wideworld, it was only a little step. Mummy 2 replacedMummy 1, and he was still under the wing of oneof the two most important female influences in hisyoung life. He found somewhere to live for just £30 a month,in a room in which he could stand in the middle

and touch every wall. So the wide world wasactually very small – and big sister conveniently onthe end of a phone.His first job in Hong Kong was for a company calledSanté International, selling Kirby vacuum cleaners,which – in these pre-Dyson days – had thereputation of being good for asthma. He spent ayear in Hong Kong and came back to England onthe spur of the moment,just three days beforeChristmas. He’d loved it inHong Kong and wasappalled at what he saw asthe biggest mistake he’dever made in coming back.

Turning pointsIt took Mike a while to findhis feet again and he waslooking for some kind oftemporary work beforegoing back to Malaysia inthose days. A fundamentallydecisive person, Mike is abig believer in makingdecisions, but also inreversing them if he feelshe was wrong. But it was then that he meta man called AndrewBlowers, one of the founding partners at InterGroup Insurance, who offered him a job as salescoordinator and took him under his wing. Mike hasa glowing memory of Andrew’s part in his career.‘He taught me so much. He treated me as a friend,not an employee, and he was a huge inspiration tome. He made me understand that life, a career,whatever – it’s a long rocky road and you’ve reallygot to want things if you’re going to stand anychance of getting them. You have to be hungry.’ That was a turning point for Mike, a sort of lightbulbover the head moment, and he feels he owed InterGroup in general a lot, and Andrew in particular. Herose quickly up the ranks at Inter Group – teamleader in a call centre, then assistant manager, thencall centre manager, and then, at the tender age of20, he was sent to Ireland to set up the Irish callcentre. Mike was on a steep learning curve but, needless tosay, he loved every minute. ‘I like change and I likesoaking up knowledge and information. I feeldepressed if I get to the end of the day and I feelthat I haven’t learned anything.’He spent 18 months in Ireland but in the end hedidn’t feel it was really ‘enough of abroad’, and hecame back to the UK to run the account and

management team. Eventually, he was made salesand marketing director at the age of 23. But then Mike met Stephen Madeley, businessdevelopment director for the UK at SOSInternational. This was at ITIC in Nassau and thatwas another turning point. He had always wantedto work for SOS International, which he had alwaysthought was just the best company there is, and he

couldn’t believe his luckwhen Stephen offered hima job. Maybe being hungryhad paid off, after all. Mike joined SOS in Augustof this year, and he stillthinks it’s the best. He wasgiven a piece of paperwhen he joined thecompany, entitled ‘Visionsand values’, whichsomehow encapsulates thesoul of the company. Thescrap of paper has becomea bit scrappy by now buthe still has it in his wallet atall times. And, needless to say, heloves it here, too. ‘I wakeup in the morning and Ican’t wait to get to work.Moving to London has

been a bit of a culture shock – and if I had thechance I would be country boy again – but I justlove my job. I’m proud to be part of the insuranceindustry. It’s so close-knit, everyone knowseveryone, and people have a passion for whatthey’re doing, they really care passionately aboutthe business. That’s great. That’s the reason I willstay in the industry.’

Nineteen to the dozenMike talks a lot and very fast. He’s used to that andit’s important in his job. There’s nothing moreimportant than the gift of the gab when you’rerunning a cell centre, and his business now is inmarketing and consumer trends, for whichcommunication is probably the most importantattribute a person can have. So it’s not surprising that he’s got a bit of a thingabout communication. ‘Most people are afraid totalk,’ he says. ‘We’re supposed to live in a world inwhich communication is number one – telephones,mobiles, emails, and so on – but email, in particular,has actually caused a lot of problems. It’s the mostsuperficial way of communicating there is. Peoplearen’t really communicating through it at all, they’rejust hiding behind their emails.’ All of which is a bit surprising coming out of themouth of a young 25-year-old. It sounds more likewhat an old fogey might say, and the thought struckme that Mike is a young man with an old head. Iremembered what he’d said about his favourite musicbeing by Cat Stevens – and I thought, at his age? There’s nothing Mike likes better than sitting in acafé and watching the world go by, or listening topeople chat. He loves playing chess, too, but hisnumber one love (other than work, of course) isthat he is the biggest movie buff. He has some1,000 films on DVD and video, and he buys around25 new ones a week. ‘When I was about nine or ten years old,’ herecalls, ‘I would save up all my pocket money andspend it on videos. I remember queuing in a shop –W.H. Smith, it was – clutching my video, and theguy in front of me had a stack of about 15. I sworethen that, when I had a job and money to spend, Iwould spend it all on videos.’Which is more or less what he does. That and

regular travelling. He loves all the great characters infilms – ‘I always wanted to be Indiana Jones,’ hesays – epics, adventures, anything. His favourite filmis Legends of the Fall, with Anthony Hopkins andBrad Pitt, and he reckons to have seen it some 40times. His favourite actor is Nicholas Cage,favourite actress Sandra Bullock. ‘But I hate sad or scary movies. I don’t have any ofthose.’So it’s not really a question of ‘anything’. And that,perhaps, says more about Mike than anything else.He’s a really nice guy, friendly, sensitive, sociable,who enjoys life and practically anything that it canthrow at him.

The downsideMike talks a lot about all the things in life that heloves, but there must be things he doesn’t like.Aren’t there?‘Well, I suppose so. I hate being criticised, for astart. So I don’t criticise other people, either. Whichis why I like to lead rather than to manage. I like tobe up there, in front, waving a flag saying,“Onwards!” Rather than at the back saying, “Youguys aren’t doing it properly.”’But what about his private life? A girlfriend would benice, for a start, I suggest. ‘Oh, I don’t know. Relationships are difficult. You seeso many people who are very unhappy. Maybe Iwatch too many movies.‘Now dogs, they’re different. My family have alwayshad dogs. They never let you down. There’ssomething about a dog’s pure honesty that’s justwonderful. There’s no political stuff, no barriers. Ifore people were like that, the world would be abetter place.’And he laughs – but perhaps not quite as loudly asall the other times. He’s thought about this.Mike is not sporty, though he likes sailing. That said,though, and after seeing Jaws countless times, he is‘scared witless’ of the sea.‘If I can’t control something, it scares me. It’s thesheer honesty of the sea that’s the really scarything.’The honesty of dogs, the honesty of the sea …there seems to be a theme emerging here.Honesty is clearly something else that Mike has a bitof a thing about. ‘Yes. There’s no point in putting on a mask. Peoplerarely understand one another at the best of times.How to Win Friends and Influence People is just oneof the best books there is. I give a copy toeveryone who works for me. It’s a fantastic book.People often don’t understand one another becausethey’re not listening. They hear what they want tohear. But if you fit, you fit; if you don’t you don’t.’Which perhaps brings us back to relationships… Butthen I get the feeling that’s for another day. He’s come a long way for someone so young, butwhat is his ambition now?‘Oh, still to be Indiana Jones,’ he says, and helaughs. With more gusto, this time. His mother is a lucky woman – she should beproud of him.

Mummy’s boy (and proud of it!)

Mike Ramsay speaking at ITIC in Nassau in 2002


PROFILE 25


WORLDMARKETS26

Since the early days when a few adventurous Britsbraved the Channel and lost their suitcases, alarge industry has grown to look after them.Fiona McDonald, travel product manager atFirstAssist and chair of the ABI Travel InsuranceCommittee, gives an overview of the travelinsurance market in the UK and how it hasdeveloped

The growth of the travel insurance market in theUK is inextricably linked with the growth ofoverseas travel by the UK population. If you goback to the swinging 60s (yes, some of us canremember that far back – just!) the number of tripsUK residents took abroad was small. Travelling to astrange country where they spoke a foreignlanguage and ate outlandish things was notsomething the average Brit would consider. Mostpeople from the UK agreed with the old King,George VI, when he said, ‘Abroad is bloody.’

Where did it all begin?As a nation, we’ve always been divided from ourContinental cousins by a narrow strip of water,which we stubbornly refer to as the EnglishChannel, without caring too much about whatothers want to call it. The barrier presented by thatwater was as much psychological as physical, andonly the adventurous and wealthy traveller waswilling or could afford to set out on an aeroplane orferry to visit foreign climes. But the 70s changed all that. A new wave of charterairlines and package tour operators came into being,offering the wary Brit the chance of experiencingMediterranean sunshine at a low cost, whileproviding reassurance that they would still be able

to eat fish and chips and drink warm beeron their annual summer holiday. The price of these new, tempting holidaysin sunny destinations was low enough, andstandards of living in the UK had risen highenough, that it was no longer necessary tobe wealthy to afford a holiday abroad.British travellers responded like a wave oflemmings going off the edge of a cliff. Whichis when they found they needed travelinsurance.Having taken the British National Healthsystem for granted since the late 1940s, itcame as something of a shock to the Britabroad that no comparable level of carewas provided for him or her when theytravelled beyond the boundaries of ‘thisscepter’d isle’. They also found they neededinsurance cover for losing their baggage while ontheir trip, (something they did with monotonousregularity) and for cancellation if they fell ill beforethey travelled.Ever responsive to the needs of the customer, theUK insurance industry stepped in to design productsand services to help the British traveller. And fromthese humble beginnings, a large industry hasgrown, with travel insurers providing the insurancecover, assistance companies supporting the travellerwhen they get into trouble during their trip, claimshandlers dedicated to receiving the claims of thereturning travellers, and ancillary businessesproviding all the services these companies need.In 2002 the size of the UK travel insurance marketwas estimated as having a gross written premium of£574 million, expected to grow to about £600million in 2003. The value of premium written has

grown steadily since the early 70s, but the rate ofgrowth has slowed significantly in the last couple ofyears. As ever, the growth in sales of travelinsurance is closely linked to the travel patterns ofthe British public. So how much travelling does theaverage Brit do?

Tripping through the yearsNo, this is not a reference to any drug-relatedactivities from the 60s! In 2001, UK residents took58.3 million trips abroad, spending a total of 579million nights outside the UK. (That’s the equivalentof 1,586,000 years!) Compare this to the 19 milliontrips taken in 1981 and it’s easy to see how muchtourism and travel has grown over the last twentyyears. The number of trips in 2002 was around 60million, and was forecast to grow to over 61 millionby 2003. For a country with a population of 59million in 2002, that’s quite a lot of travelling.

Of course, not every single resident of the UK flees‘this royal throne of kings’ every year. In fact, it’sestimated that only 40 per cent of the total adults inthe UK travel abroad each year. It doesn’t take amathematician to work out that these people mustbe taking more than one trip each. More and moreof us are taking more than one trip abroad everyyear, and in recent years the ‘mini-break’ ofbetween one and three nights outside the UK, hasbeen growing in popularity. In 2002, over 7 milliontrips abroad fell into this category. A significant factor in the increasing number of tripstaken per person has been the growing numbersand wealth of the ‘grey’ market. The older, retiredtraveller has more time to spend on their trips, andin recent years has become increasingly affluent.This market has presented challenges to the travelinsurance underwriter, as with increasing age, thefrequency and cost of claims also rises. It will be

The UKtravelinsurancemarket

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL INSURANCE CONFERENCE 2004

For further information and travel reservations call:VOYAGEUR EVENT MANAGEMENT, VOYAGEUR BUILDINGS, 43 COLSTON ST, BRISTOL BS1 5AXtel: +44 (0)117 922 6600 fax: +44 (0)117 929 2023 email: [email protected]

BRIGHTON 11th - 13th MAY 2004ITIC

interesting to see if this marketcontinues to grow, as pressures onpension funds increase. This couldresult in pensioners becoming lessaffluent, and less able to affordfrequent or extended trips overseas.As the British have travelled more, sowe have also ventured further afield,with new destinations increasing inpopularity over the years. Back in1981, of the 19 million trips takenoutside the UK, only 3 million or 16per cent were to destinations outsideEurope. By 2001, 10.7 million tripshad destinations outside Europe,representing 18.4 per cent of all tripstaken, and this in a year when the lastfour months saw dramatic changes intravel patterns. In 2000, over 11million trips had been taken outsideEurope, representing 19.4 per centof all trips.Inevitably, the number of trips abroadtaken by UK residents was impactedby the tragic events of 11 September2001. What’s interesting is that, in spite of that awfulday, the number of journeys taken in 2001 was stillup on 2000, by 1.5 million. How many more visitsabroad would have been taken if 9/11 hadn’thappened? It won’t come as any surprise that themain destination affected by the events of that daywas the US. Trips there dropped by 400,000between 2000 and 2001, and fell again in 2002.We obviously don’t have statistics for 2003 as yet,but from reading the travel trade press, it wouldseem that total trips numbers could well havestalled this year. Many agents and operators havereported reduced bookings, and we have all seen aglut of late, cheap holidays available even at theheight of the season. So what happened?In 2003 we saw an unusual combination of events,although to be honest, every year since 2001seems to have been unusual, making the travelunderwriter’s job that much more challenging! In2003, we saw a very slow start to the year, with thethreat of war in the Gulf hanging over us, theincreased awareness of the potential risk ofterrorism as a result, and just to make life moreinteresting, the rise of the SARS virus. Perhaps notsurprisingly, many British families decided topostpone their decision on booking a summerholiday, and sales of both trips and travel insurancepolicies were sluggish as a result.Just when we might have expected sales to startpicking up, an extraordinary event happened in theUK, something unparalleled in recent years. Thesun shone.And it kept on shining. This summer, many Britishfamilies decided to stay at home and enjoy thealmost unprecedented sunshine, which hasimpacted sales across the board. It will beinteresting to see how much of an impact thesunshine has had when all the numbers for 2003

are finally in.

Where we buy our policiesWho has sold all these travel insurance policies tocustomers? In the early days, nearly everyone in theUK bought their travel insurance at the same timeas their holiday. Travel agents dominated themarket, with single trip policies accounting foralmost all of the travel insurance policies sold.Over the last five years, this picture has changeddramatically. As more people take more than onetrip abroad each year, sales of annual travel policieshave grown rapidly. Many of these policies arepurchased through alternative distribution channels,such as direct insurers, banks, and more recently,high street retailers and Internet providers. Thistrend was accelerated by a change in the law in1998, which made it illegal for travel agents andtour operators to make the offer of discounts onholidays conditional on purchasing travel insurancefrom them. Many people in the UK also now havebank accounts or credit cards for which they pay anannual fee, and which provide them with ‘free’travel insurance as a benefit. The result of this diversification has been to reducethe proportion of policies sold through travel agentssignificantly. In 2002, for the first time, less than 50per cent of travel insurance sales were from travelagents. But this pendulum may be set to swing backin the opposite direction.A new wave of regulation of all general insurancesales is sweeping through the UK as governmentseeks to implement the EU Insurance MediationDirective (IMD), through the offices of the FinancialServices Authority (FSA). The sale of all generalinsurance products will in future be regulated by theFSA, in accordance with the standards laid down inthe IMD, with only a couple of exceptions.

One of these exceptions is the sale oftravel insurance policies sold with aholiday, by a travel agent. The whysand wherefores of the decision toexempt such sales from the FSAregulation have been debatedelsewhere, and there’s no need torepeat the arguments here. However,many in the industry see this ascreating a two tier approach toregulation, which will in the end bedetrimental to the purpose of theIMD: the protection of the consumer.We have all seen cases whereinsufficient information as to the coverprovided by the policy has been givenat the point of sale. It remains to beseen whether travel agents can provethey can give the necessary guidanceand information to their customers atthe time the travel insurance policy ispurchased.

The underwritersThe travel insurance market has

become increasingly consolidated in recent years,with some players leaving the market, and othersjoining. The picture is constantly changing asaccounts move, but at the start of 2003 the largestplayers in the UK market were AXA and GEFI, bothof whom were estimated to underwrite about 20per cent of the market. Several insurers fall into the next layer, all of whichunderwrite between 5 per cent and 10 per cent ofthe total premium income. These include WhiteHorse (the MyTravel captive), Europe Assistance,AIG, Norwich Union, Churchill, Mondial andFirstAssist (which was Royal & SunAlliance), as wellas Lloyd’s of London. Between them, these insurersunderwrite close to 90 per cent of all travel

insurance policies.

Where do we go from here?There are a lot of questions about the future oftravel and travel insurance in the UK, but not somany answers. Will UK residents continue to travelin the same way as they have in the past? The worldhas changed over the last couple of years, and manyUK residents perceive it to be a more dangerousplace. Patterns have shifted, and while people stillwant to travel, they seem to be staying closer tohome. Trips to Europe have increased steadily overthe last five years, although the rate of growth hadslowed from 10 per cent a year in the mid-90s tofive per cent a year more recently. Even in 2001, westill saw year on year growth of four per cent.In contrast, the number trips outside Europe weregrowing at a much faster rate of 10 per cent to 15per cent in the mid-90s, but this all changed in2001. Trips to the US fell by eight per cent thatyear, and trips to other destinations outside Europestalled at the 2000 level. This is a trend that we canprobably look forward to in the future: continuedsteady growth in trips to Europe, but a slower rateof increase in trips to destinations further afield. With more people travelling more than once a year,but many of them choosing to stay closer to home,we can expect sales of annual policies and thosetaken ‘free’ with bank accounts and credit cards tokeep growing, while sales of single trip policies maystabilise or even diminish. And just to make thingsmore interesting, the ‘grey’ market, which hasfuelled a lot of the growth in travel in recent years,may move into decline, as fewer people can affordto retire early, and older people’s disposableincomes reduce in value.In summary, we live in an uncertain world. Sowhat’s new?


WORLDMARKETS 27

The London marketand Lloyd’sThe market at Lloyd’s of London is uniqueamongst the world’s insurers and David Stirling ofCrispin Speers & Partners gives us a little insightinto what it is and its involvement in TravelInsurance.

Lloyd’s of London evokes all sorts of messages andis one of the best known names or brands in theworld today. This article sets out the historicposition of Lloyd’s, bringing it up to date and picksout some of the more niche and specialist areaswhich compliment the rank and file travel insurancepolicies.Having started out trading from a coffee house inthe City of London in 1688, some 315 years laterthe original marine policies for ships and their cargohave been moved on at a pace. I wonder if thiswould be possible in Starbucks today?In today’s market there is currently a capacity tounderwrite and accept in excess of£14,000,000,000 in premium. While the onus ofcapacity has shifted from individual names tocorporate capital, much of the strengths have beenkept, such as the ability to communicate face toface. Indeed, the 1986 building designed by SirRichard Rodgers provides for all the functionalitythat a modern marketplace needs, in spite of itscompletion 17 years ago. (I wonder if it will one daybecome the new Concorde!)Many of you will have had the chance to visit thebuilding during your business career and for those ofyou that have not, may I heartily recommend it. Youwill discover that the market retains many traditionsyet reaches out to the future through over 70 Lloyd’ssyndicates accessed by over 150 Lloyd’s brokers.In researching this article, I discovered a number of

interesting statistics regarding the risks Lloyd’sunderwrites:

• 12 per cent global marine market• 29 per cent global aviation market (including 67

airlines)• 52 per cent of the London market’s gross income• 6th largest reinsurer worldwide• US business virtually doubled 1998–2002

Travel insuranceBut, what does all this have to do with travelinsurance? Well, travel insurance and reinsurance iswritten into essentially the following portfolios ofbusiness:• Accident & health• Personal accident• Casualty• Non-marine• Treaty reinsurance

Within each of these portfolios, there exist separateor overlapping areas depending upon thedescription given by the market in question. Thereare no identifiable codes that I can reliably use toidentify the incomes for travel insurance orreinsurance, so my comments are based upon mypersonal experiences and market knowledge.Some of the earliest travel insurance policies wereunderwritten at Lloyd’s covering aviators and travelpioneers. Going back into the history books, you canfind policies for the Titanic, for example, but in truththese were not travel insurance as we know themtoday. Current style travel insurance policies weredeveloped in the late 1960s around the time thatthe early assistance companies came into being, suchas Europ Assistance and GESA. The policies werecombinations and packages of products bundledtogether either as a package at a discount or as aself-selection process – an area that has sadly fallenaway in favour of the comprehensive package.

In today’s marketplace, the major, multi-millionpound programmes are generally written to amargin of profit that Lloyd’s underwriters do notfind attractive. So how do they maintain such asignificant presence?• Firstly, there are historical and long-term

relationships that have been built up over manyyears, and continuity and understanding does stillremain an important factor.

• Secondly, Lloyd’s underwriters both singularly andcollectively enjoy first class security ratings andhave the added advantage of a chain of security.

• Thirdly, the imagination, innovation and

willingness to accept and assume risk in areas thatothers fear are not only unique in travel, but thewhole market.

Some examples of insurance cover:• War and terrorism exposures• In-flight and common carrier accumulations• Credit card and financial institutions• Evacuation and repatriation reimbursement• Expeditions and explorers• World record attempts• Sports teams• Kidnap, ransom and extortion


WORLDMARKETS 28

The war and terrorism cover offered is plentiful andvaried, of course subject to the necessaryunderwriting information. Just because the riskmaybe dangerous does not necessarily mean that itis uninsurable. Indeed, the market is currentlyoffering solutions for many of the aid workers indistressed territories, along with the insurance forthose re-building war-torn countries.The issues with in-flight, common carrier and creditcard risks are often the concern about the valuesgiven and the management of the overallaccumulation. With more and more travel, coupledwith the use of payment by credit cards, eventuallywe are going to have to face a multiple life loss, likethe Tenerife air disaster, involving two Boeing 747jets colliding on the runway with the loss of over500 lives. In today’s market, the typical sums insured arebetween £100,000 and £500,000 (insurers areresisting higher coverages). Even at the minimum£100,000, this would equal the entire premium fortravel insurance in the UK of £500,000,000!The advent of the assistance companies offeringboth their services on an insured and uninsuredbasis has led to many differing products andprogrammes bespoked for that audience.The one-off record attempt or expedition risks areextremely difficult to evaluate in terms of risk andexposure. The very nature of the client is that theypush to the limits to achieve their given goals andsometimes it is fair to say that they will be exposingthemselves to needless perils!One ‘crazy’ example was the man who wanted torow across the Atlantic in a bath-tub. He had noreal experience, backing or organisation, buttremendous passion and a real belief that he coulddo it!Typically sports teams are insured for career endinginjuries, but what about when they travel togetherfor away games or tournaments like the RugbyWorld Cup where many of the players are insuredat Lloyd’s?It was Tony Cassidy and Bill Davis of Cassidy DavisSyndicate at Lloyd’s who were credited with thedevelopment of the kidnap and ransom policies.These were and still continue to be sold to bothgroups as well as individuals, not just for theinsurance, but also for their linkage to specialtyassistance and management response companieslike Control Risks Group.While Lloyd’s does not own the rights to theseproducts exclusively – indeed others underwrite therisks too – their origins and development haveinvariably been at Lloyd’s and will continue to be

underwritten there.

What else has Lloyd’s got tooffer?Lloyd’s is licensed to transact directbusiness in over 60 territories and,when you include reinsurance,does so in over 120. The marketenjoys a fantastic ability to transferthis into business opportunities, afact that has not been ignored bythe market’s ‘corporate’ capitalproviders, many of whom areinsurance professionals themselves.For instance, our company agreedto work in partnership with GlobalInsurance Solutions (CollinsonGroup) nearly 5 years ago todevelop a web-based tradingplatform for travel insurance. Todaythis international programme isdistributed through many keypartners in six currencies, twolanguages, and 38 countries. It isexpanding to encompass agencyand third-party business and anexample can be viewed at: www.travelinsurancewebsite.com

The Lloyd’s market encourages those initiativeswhere profitable business can be traded in a secureenvironment and it follows that support andunderwriting capacity is there when it is needed.In concluding, it is important to emphasise the rolethat Lloyd’s plays in reinsurance. There is a misconception that reinsurance is adifficult or mysterious product to handle. This isemphatically not the case and indeed we treat ourfacultative reinsurance in the same way that wewould any other insurance risks. It simply meansthat the business is underwritten locally, rated atLloyd’s and then ceded to them as reinsurance,typically on a 90 per cent quota share basis. Any riskcan be traded this way.For whole portfolios of business, this is then termed‘Treaty’ and markets will look at all combinations ofcoverage and design the programme around theclient’s specific requirements. Indeed, at the ITICconference, there was a reinsurance forum whichwas held to discuss just these issues, not only forLloyd’s but the whole market.So what do you need to do if you want to send arisk to Lloyd’s underwriters for consideration?1. Find a suitable Lloyd’s broker who is well versedin the services and expertise that you are lookingfor.Further information about brokers and markets canbe found at www.lloyds.com.2. Collate all the information and ensure that it is allshared with your chosen broker.3. Where at all possible visit your broker, yourunderwriters and the market as a whole.

The UK assistanceindustryThe assistance industry is there to pick up thepieces when the traveller gets him- or herself intotrouble. Tim Ablett, chief executive of FirstAssist,reviews the origins and development of the UKassistance market.

To the purist customer, I imagine that insuranceconjures up images of being there to help whendisaster strikes. Sadly, over the years, and withgrowing financial constraints, that rosy image of theaverage general insurer in the UK often is not realityand is not the helpful, needed and sought afterservice the policyholder (in such circumstancesalready magically relabelled ‘the claimant’) expectsto receive. This jaundiced image of our greatindustry – where the public think we hide behindsmall print, readily accepting premiums but toooften seeming to find ways of wriggling out of payingclaims - is sadly one which leaves our reputationmarginally higher that second hand car dealers. Evenif this is only perception in the eyes of policyholdersand not reality - we cannot ignore perceptionswhen they harm our reputation.

Important adjunctsContinental Europe, and in particular the mutualinsurers, both recognised and tackled this problemin the early 1970s and 1980s with the creation oftheir own assistance operations. They becameimportant adjuncts to their core insurancebusinesses and they became key factors in thedelivery of help and service whenever one of their‘members’ had a disaster – either when travelling, athome or when holidaying. Most of the Continentalassistance companies were born to take over thedelivery of a solution rather than the too oftenevent of having an argument over the indemnityvalue of a claim. These companies were often subsidiaries of themutual insurers and provided valuable and quitedifferent non-insurance skills into the indemnityproposition, such as medical and language skills. Allthe time the intention was twofold – improvedcustomer service to the member / policyholder; to


WORLDMARKETS 29

_NEED MEDICAL ASSISTANCE, HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS & MANAGEMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA?_

Should you require assistance with emergencymedical air evacuation to hospital in SouthAfrica this can be arranged to yourrequirements. We cover the financialobligations for your members. We include inthe service a 24hr on call facility, full patientand family care, both individual and medicalmanagement.

We have a wealth of experience in this fieldand trust that this will be beneficial to boththe insurer and patient.

We can facilitate the following:• Admission to most

hospitals in SouthAfrica

• Issuing costestimates

• Audit and costcontainment

• Translation services• Case managed

admissions• Medical updates

and reports daily

we are here for your peace of mind

4th Floor Allcare House, 90 Grayston Drive, SandtonJohannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA

Contact: (24hrs) +27 82 323 7553 (o/h) +27 11 290 6330 fax: +27 11 290 6329 email: [email protected]

web ad: www.aims.org.za

put them in the same position they were in prior tothe disaster / accident and secondly to improve thecost effectiveness of the claim and its handling.In the UK, with less of a history of mutual generalinsurers and more a structure of compositeinsurers, assistance companies took longer to takeoff. Perhaps it was also the Brit’s reluctance to travelabroad that slowed the need for assistanceoperations. The first UK assistance operations wereunsurprisingly ‘continental imports’ – GESAAssistance, Europ Assistance and Mondial Assistanceto name but three. However two of the oldestassistance companies born in the UK should not beforgotten – the AA and the RAC, both of whichwere born to look after the needs of motorists andboth of which at different times have ventured intoother aspects of assistance, although not entirelysuccessfully.So as the 1970s and 1980s progressed and theBritish obsession with foreign travel grew, therecame the overwhelming need for travel and medicalassistance to all travellers leaving the UK shores fortheir two weeks in sunnier climes.With the growth in travel and the subsequentgrowth in travel insurers, there came an inexorablerise in travel and medical assistance companies.Experience moved across the Channel from, inparticular, France, and slowly a new breed of AngloSaxon assistance companies started to emerge -Cega, International Assistance Services (now part ofFirstAssist) and SOS, for example.

Increasing the scopeAlthough most of these operations began life asmedical assistance companies, it soon becameevident that there was scope for the expansion of24/7 services, involving the same principles ofhelping people in distress, to other lines of domesticgeneral insurance – e.g. motor and homeinsurance. General insurers saw the need and theopportunity to move their indemnity drivenpropositions into service driven solution-based

proposals, relying heavily on the use of theirassistance companies to deliver these solutions. Asalready discussed, medical/travel assistance hadbeen the bedrock of the past with strong networklinks either to their own representatives in overseascountries or more likely with local agents liaisingwith the UK operations centre. A special skill of the medical assistancecompanies rests very much with the medicalteam at the heart of the operation’s centre.Not only is the highest standard of medicalcompetence required but also excellentlinguistic and communication skills are essentialas we travel to more and more remote areasof the globe. The ability to communicate withthe treating doctor, to take the right decisionfor the patient and the most cost effective forthe insurer, is often a judgement that has to bemade by the team back in the operationscentre of the assistance company. Making thewrong decision (for example; should treatmentcontinue in the holiday resort? Can the patienttravel? Does the condition demand the use ofan air ambulance?) can have serious effects onboth the health of the injured party and theclaims ratio of the insurance company! Moving from medical treatment and travelassistance to motor assistance in the UK wasnot a dramatic or difficult change for the UKoperators, particularly as there were alreadythe established players – AA and RAC. In somesenses looking after a broken down vehicle is agreat deal simpler logistically compared tolooking after an injured person. The sameprinciples apply: a reliable network able totriage vehicles broken down on the highway, alongwith a full recovery service for vehicle andpassengers back to the garage for those vehiclesirreparable at the roadside. Once again, theimportance of looking after the customer dominatesand putting the customer (claimant) back into thesame position he was in prior to the incident is

paramount. Insurers saw these moves as an idealway of improving that elusive customer servicesought by the financial services industry.Home assistance was developed very much laterand did not really become prominent in the UKuntil after the hurricane which hit the south of

England in 1987, when thousands of customers losttrees, fences and roofs, and suffered seriousdamage to their homes. They were desperate fortradesmen to repair their homes and despite thebest efforts of their insurers many were left forweeks without those vital repairs being carried out. Logistically, delivering a full home assistance service,

is a much harder than other areas of assistance suchas travel / medical and motor assistance, whichlargely require a single network, however extensivethat may have to be. Rarely can home assistance bedelivered via such a single network. More likely aseries of networks are required, involving roofers,plumbers, electricians, glaziers etc. Many of theseare small local businesses unprepared to travel outof their region – compare this to the motorrecovery agents who travel literally miles to recovera vehicle. Thus, the networks are large, fragmentedand very difficult to manage and to guaranteeconsistency and quality of service.As if to demonstrate these difficulties, some of thetraditional companies have entered these marketsand exited – for example AA Home Service andGreen Flag Home Service. Arguably, this end of theassistance market is still not well served andopportunities exist to provide a full plannedproperty maintenance service for the time poor,money rich society that has emerged over the last20 years.Coupled with the plethora of 24-hour telephoneassistance services offered as add-ons to coreinsurance products – such as legal and financialadvice and medical help lines including advice andcounselling – the future certainly looks bright for theassistance business world.Finally, we should not forget the area of largestgrowth that we have seen in the assistance industryover the last few years – the launch and operationof NHS Direct in the UK. This operation nowservices 6.3 million calls a year, providing help andcomfort to millions of patients requiring help. Clearly, as the pressures of living increase and lifebecomes more complex, our demand for help 24hours a day, 365 days a year, appears insatiable.The UK assistance industry will undoubtedlyrespond and is set for growth and an expansion ofthe services it provides.


WORLDMARKETS 30

How are foreign visitors to

the UK treated?

But what about the foreign visitorswhen they come a-cropper in the UK?Dr Simon Brownleader from HealixInternational looks at how the UKhealth market supports patients fromoverseas

The UK National Health Service (NHS)was created in 1948 to overcome theinequalities in healthcare that existed inthe UK prior to its inception. The qualityof health care provided within the NHSis of a high standard and is comparableto other health care systems in thedeveloped world. The cost of providingthis service is also comparable withother EU countries. The World HealthOrganisation's health league table scoresthe NHS at 24th out of 191 countriessurveyed. This table looks at overallhealth efficiency: how much health caresystems cost, morbidity, mortalitystatistics and other outcomes. It is not aconsumer guide to technical excellencein acute healthcare.

Health tourismIn its ethos is enshrined the principle thatthe NHS is there to provide a free, at-the-point-of-use service for people wholive in the United Kingdom. However,recent media stories have described how the NHSis open to widespread abuse by foreigners andtourists from overseas, and the term 'health tourism'has been coined.Before looking at this type of abuse further it isworth examining who qualifies for treatment withinthe NHS, and for what type of treatment theyqualify. Overseas visitors from the European EconomicArea (EEA) are entitled to full, free care within theNHS. There are also reciprocal health careagreements in place with other countries outsidethe EEA, with countries as diverse as Russia, NewZealand, Australia, the Caribbean islands and severalformer Soviet block countries. Certain treatments are exempt from chargesirrespective of where you come from. These tendto be for conditions that if not treated may have awider impact on public health and these include:1. Any treatment given in an accident and

emergency department, but ward admission ischargeable.

2. Treatment for communicable diseases (excluding

HIV/AIDS where it is only the first diagnosis andconnected counselling sessions that are chargefree)

3. Compulsory psychiatric treatment.

Financial obligationNHS Hospital Trusts involved in treating suchpatients get no funding or reimbursement for thecost of treating overseas patients, so there is both alegal and a financial obligation on the hospital trustto identify patients not entitled to free care and tocharge them accordingly. Figures from one North London hospital haveshown almost a 300 per cent increase in thenumber of overseas patients in the last three years,from 200 in the year 2000 to 583 in 2002, with adecrease in the amount of money received to coverhospital costs currently running at 40 per cent. Theimplications are clear: hospital trusts end up writingoff the costs as it becomes impossible to claim anyof the money back from patients, especially if theyare poor and from developing countries. These patients tie up resources that would normallybe used for the local population and consequentlywaiting lists will increase. More worryingly, ifunchecked, more overseas patients will arrive

making the situation worse.There are many examples of such abuses that givean appreciation of the costs involved. There arenumerous cases of pregnant women who come to

the UK for an extended holiday justto give birth here. Such cases cancost somewhere between £1,500and £4,000 depending on length ofstay and if complications requiringmore intervention arise duringdelivery. One particular patient fromNigeria on a six-month visitor visaneeded treatment costing over£53,000. This had to be written offby the hospital trust.

New proposalsIt is accepted that these abusesoccur, but there is little informationgathered centrally to get a feel forthe actual number of cases involvedfor the whole of the NHS, let alonethe financial burden it imposes.However, it is recognised that theuse of the NHS by visitors fromabroad puts demands on the servicethat it was never intended to carry.Currently, new proposals are beingput together to try and close theloopholes, and to clarify who isentitled to free treatment and whohas to pay. Some of the abuses that theseproposed rule changes are aimed atstopping include:

• Failed asylum seekers and others with no legalright to be in the country who seek treatmentfree of charge

• Dependants of someone who is exempt fromcharges who visits the country briefly just to

obtain free treatment• Business travellers to the UK and their

dependants who receive free treatment if they fallill or are injured on a trip to the UK

Other proposals include changes to the rules oncharging for treatment of UK citizens who havebeen working abroad for more than five years.There are also new charge exemptions forpensioners who share their time between thiscountry and another EEA country, and foreignstudents resident in this country.It is difficult to ascertain whether foreign visitors aremainly treated in NHS hospitals or private hospitals,as there are no centrally maintained statistics.Where patients end up generally depends on thenature of their medical problem. If a person needsemergency hospital treatment they would alwaysend up in an NHS Accident & Emergency (A&E)department, as there are no private A&Edepartments in the UK. A&E treatment is free in theUK, but if a patient is admitted onto a ward theywould be charged for their stay. There are patientswho mislead the hospital by giving false addressesand names so that they can avoid payment andabuse the system, a practice called 'health tourism'.The scale of this abuse is unknown.Some NHS hospitals have private patient wings, soforeign visitors could be transferred to these if thepatient has private medical insurance cover and aconsultant is available. There is a steady stream of patients from aroundthe world who come to the UK for privatehealthcare, but these are usually pre-planned eventsand patients would invariably end up in privatehospitals. Private general practitioner services mayrefer patients to the private sector but again thiswould depend on the nature of the problem. If amedical problem is acute, the patient would be bestserved by an NHS hospital.


WORLDMARKETS 31

We recently described a caseof post-arrest interrogationand incarceration in Japan.Almost immediately afterwriting that column, wereceived a hotline call fromdistraught parents of a 20-year-old college study-abroad student enrolled in aJapanese university. His hostmother had found aminiscule amount ofmarijuana in his dresserdrawer and reported it tothe university. A call to thelocal police by the universityresulted in the young man turning himself in to thepolice. He was charged and incarcerated withoutbail.Ten hectic days of frequent legal calls, critical inputby the study abroad programme and theannouncement of a congressional investigationresulted in the young man’s release, the dropping ofthe case, and his safe return to the US. This is a rareoccurrence, with the official explanation citing thestudent’s unblemished background, his self-surrender, prompt confession and acceptance ofresponsibility.The initial distress call came in through theassistance company, a vital component of a studyabroad programme, as well as of any foreigncountry work-study or travel programme. In thiscase, no local lawyer had yet been appointed orretained. Our primary initial task in foreign arrestcases is to locate an appropriate lawyer, one whohopefully will be able to communicate in the samelanguage as the defendant.In Japan, outside of Tokyo, obtaining a Japaneselawyer with such language skills can be mostdifficult. Being incarcerated in a far-away foreignprison is difficult enough, but not being able tocommunicate effectively with one’s lawyer is asignificant added problem. In the student’s case, weused University of Pennsylvania graduate lawstudents from Japan to do the translation andinterpretation that we needed.In another study-abroad case in Spain, a malestudent was charged with the equivalent of daterape. The only legal issue was whether the sex wasconsensual. In that case, it was essential to obtain atop quality Spanish lawyer, which we did within 24hours. Obtaining the release of the student from jailon to a bail status certainly helped permit aneffective preparation of the defence. Being able topromptly retain a distinguished criminal practitionerwas vital to the successful outcome of this case.Criminal cases of other study-abroad students aretypically less onerous. One incident involved twoAmerican students in Grenoble, France, who ignoredthe posted warning signs and snowboarded down aski-slope, causing an avalanche. Fortunately, no onewas injured; but they were both arrested andcharged with ‘risking a catastrophe’. The well-known lawyer in Paris whom we recommended wasvital to the successful conclusion of that case.Students are frequently involved in automobile

accidents and other non-criminal activities, andtherefore the majority of their legal problems are ofa civil nature. In common with other travellers, theyare cited for a variety of vehicle operation offences.In the US, each state has its own rules andregulations concerning driver’s licence requirements.Since 11 September, some states have becomemuch stricter in requiring visiting foreign nationalsto obtain local operator’s licences. Fortunately,students are typically permitted to drive with theirhome country licence plus an International Driver’sPermit (IDP). Other categories of foreign visitors arerequired to obtain a local state licence. Thesituations constitute a confusing administrativehassle.We frequently receive calls from students, au pairs,and other J1 visitors in the US who receive citationsfor ‘driving without a licence’. In many of theseincidents, even the police are unfamiliar with thecomplicated licence rules, and time and effort isnecessary to clarify the situation.Probably the most frequent encounter with the legalsystem for foreign visitors in the US is Traffic Court.For visitors from the UK and some Commonwealthcountries, unfamiliarity with driving on the rightside of the road is enough to cause a potentialtraffic violation (or accident, or both). Even thoughmany visitors do drive on the same side of the roadas US residents, it is still easy to get confused bycongested road conditions, unfamiliar signs, andtraffic laws and rules, which differ from state tostate and locally.Many moving violations listed in the various MotorVehicle Codes, including DUI (drunk driving) cases,carry penalties that constitute a criminal violation.In the post-11 September era of vigilance in regardto granting of visas and entry into the US, even aminor criminal infraction may bar a student or anyother visitor from future visits to the US.Some visitors to the US unwittingly plead guilty totraffic infractions, which has the potential ofcreating serious problems at a later time. Manylawyers are not cognisant of the collateralconsequences of seemingly insignificant trafficinfractions. Competent legal advice is a necessity.Travellers should be forewarned and alerted to theavailability of legal consultation and referralservices, and this legal service should be quicklyaccessible.

It is all too easy for students abroad to come back

with rather more than a qualification. Dick Atkins,

Philadelphia US lawyer and specialist in travel

insurance-related legal matters, sounds a note of

caution

Studying for a record Message from the editorChristmas festivities leave most of us feelinghorribly drained and only too glad to wipethe slate clean and start a brand new year.New year, new prospects, new beginnings,new fortunes… With this in mind, I amsending you all my best wishes for aprosperous and happyone in 2004.But back to work: in thisissue, we have the sixthpart in our series onhealthcare all over theworld, focusing on thedebate between publicand private. In this issue,we look at the debatefrom the perspective ofwhat is happening inLatin America, where theinsurance companieshave the reputation,when things go wrong, of being quick torepatriate their insureds, regardless of themedical condition involved. We look at thetruth of this and the whys and wherefores.Those of you who were lucky enough tocome to ITIC in Rome will no doubtremember Dr Sean Keogh’s fascinating talkon kidnap and ransom. These days, this isan astonishingly highly profitable business,with some 15,000 incidents a yearworldwide and a market value well in excessof $500 million a year. Not surprisingly –

because people always manage to findopportunities where they exist – the K&Rinsurance industry is growing at acorrespondingly healthy rate, and we look atthe details and the prospects in this issue.Last but not least and most excitingly for us,

this issue is alsoaccompanied by the firstedition of our InternationalHealthcare Journalsupplement. We hope thatthis will become bigger andbetter as time goes on, andthat it will eventually be anindependent journal in itsown right, aimed ateveryone who works in thehealthcare industry. Tell uswhat you think of it andwe’ll be sure to bear inmind what you say when

we put our thinking caps on. As always, there is plenty to mull over andread, plus all the usual mix of news andviews. In the meantime, happy reading,happy travelling and look after yourselves –you can never be sure what’s around thecorner.

His client went skiing and claimedon his return for an injury that hehad sustained to his foot. Notsurprising, you may think – a lot ofpeople hurt themselves whenskiing. But no, that was not theproblem; his claim for the doctor’sbill was not caused by an injurywhile skiing but because he haddropped his too heavy suitcase onhis foot when he slipped on theiced stairway of the hotel.

Ouch…

Please keep your stories coming – we’vepretty well run out of these now and weneed your help. So genuine ones, please,and the more bizarre the better.

CLAIM ANDCOUNTERCLAIM

Our thanks go toWalter van Tiel,marketing manager atEuropeescheVerzekeringen, for thefollowing rather sadlittle story.

Our thanks go to Bruce Unger,former clinical director and chiefflight nurse at Air AmbulanceProfessionals, for the following.

For all of you out there who've had to deal withan irate customer, this one is for you. An awardshould go to the United Airlines gate agent inDenver for being smart and funny, while makingher point, when confronted with a passengerwho probably deserved to fly as cargo. A crowded United Airlines flight was cancelled. Asingle agent was rebooking a long line ofinconvenienced travellers. Suddenly an angrypassenger pushed his way to the desk. He slappedhis ticket on the counter and said, ‘I HAVE to beon this flight and it has to be FIRST CLASS.’ The agent replied, ‘I am sorry, sir. I'll be happyto try to help you, but I’ve got to help thesefolks first, and I'm sure we'll be able to worksomething out.’The passenger was unimpressed. He askedloudly, so that the passengers behind him couldhear, ‘DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM?’Without hesitating, the agent smiled and grabbedher public address microphone, ‘May I have yourattention please,’ She began, her voice heardclearly throughout the terminal. ‘We have apassenger here at Gate 14 WHO DOES NOTKNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him findhis identity, please come to Gate 14.’ With the folks behind him in line laughinghysterically, the man glared at the United agent,gritted his teeth and swore ‘Screw you!’Without flinching, she smiled and said, ‘I'm sorry,sir, but you'll have to get in line for that too.’

Smilecorner


DICK’SHOTLINE32


REGULARS34


The 15 November attacks on two synagoguesin Istanbul, Turkey and 20 November attackson British targets in that city suggest adiscouraging answer to the problems in thatpart of the world. Our contact at iJET TravelRisk Management considers the situation

There is a persistent question that needs to beanswered. Is Turkey a relatively secure countrydespite its proximity to the most volatile region inthe world? Or is it a sitting duck for the legions ofterrorist groups operating within its borders and innearby countries? The ultimate answer may not be apparent for sometime, but the short-term verdict is gloomy. The riskof terrorist attacks in Turkey is high and is likely toremain so over the next three months. It is unclear ifthe Turkish security apparatus can defend thecountry against further attacks in the short-term.The November attacks killed at least 50 people andwounded more than 700.However, Turkey does have one of the moreprofessional and efficient police forces in the world.Over the medium term, the police – along withTurkish intelligence and military forces – are likelyto crack down hard on domestic extremist groups.Security forces have already taken steps to do so.

Turkish gendarmerie units conducted raids on theresidences of suspected members of the TurkishHizballah terrorist organisation in the cities ofDiyarbakir, Batman and Mardin in the daysfollowing November attacks.Given Turkey's significant tourism revenue and thecountry's aspirations for joining the EuropeanUnion, the perception of a stable securityenvironment is a top priority for the Turkishgovernment. Security and intelligence officials fromIsrael, the UK and the US are collaborating withTurkey in investigating the attacks.Although investigators believe that they mayhave established links to al-Qaida, no finaldetermination has been made. But thesophisticated nature, targets chosen andquality of explosives suggest some degree ofal-Qaida involvement. Turkish officials havestated that the suspects in the attacks werelikely aided by an international terroristorganisation.Turkish police also believe that members of theTurkish Hizballah, a 20-year-old terrorist groupthat police had largely dismantled in 2000, may haveregrouped and planned the attacks. Authorities hadblamed the group for a 1992 bombing of one of thetwo synagogues that were targeted on 15 November.

Terrorist warningsA review of published terrorist warnings andindicators for Turkey over the past six months showsthat international intelligence organizations werenot far off in their assessments of the threat in thecountry:• 17 October: In a warden message, the US

Embassy in Ankara warned that US citizens andinterests in Turkey could be targeted in terroristattacks. The embassy warns of a heightenedthreat during Ramadan (when the Novemberattacks occurred) and other holidays, includingHanukkah (December 19–27), Christmas and NewYear.

• 4 October: Intelligence indicated the threat ofterrorist attacks by the Kurdistan Workers' Party(PKK-KADEK) in northern Iraq, southeastern Turkeyand in major Turkish cities – including Istanbuland Ankara - may rise in the coming months asTurkey and the U.S escalate efforts to disband theterrorist organisation. Recent reports indicate thatelements of PKK-KADEK decided to disband thegroup in favour of a more politically drivenorganisation based in northern Iraq. Turkish

officials immediately rejected the announcementas an attempt by the group to avoid prosecutionfor past crimes. It is still too early to assesswhether the group will disband or split into

various militant cells; as such, the group remainsa threat to travellers.

• 19 April: The Turkish Security General Directorateissued two alerts to provincial police warning ofpotential terrorist attacks. The first alert said thatapproximately 35 specially trained terrorists,possibly belonging to al-Qaida or the KurdistanWorkers' Party (PKK or KADEK), had infiltratedTurkey via northern Iraq. The second alert warnedthat al-Qaida could conduct a terrorist operationin the coming days. Potential targets cited byofficials include major financial centres, airports,humanitarian aid establishments and logisticsdepots. Additional possible targets aregovernment institutions or Australian, British,Israeli, Spanish and US interests.

High risk Factors that put Turkey at high risk for terroristattacks include the infrastructure of domesticextremist organizations in the country. At least 17terrorist groups have operated since the 1980s. Thisinfrastructure helps terrorists who hope to plan andcarry out an attack. Surveillance, procurement ofexplosive materials, recruiting of operatives andother pre-attack logistics are much easier with anetwork of experienced, in-country accomplices.Also contributing to the high risk for terroristattacks is the fact that many domestic extremistgroups in Turkey share common interests with al-Qaida. (These interests include establishment of aMuslim theocracy in Turkey, and anti-Jewish andanti-Israeli sentiments.) This increases the chancesof these groups collaborating with al-Qaida toconduct attacks. Although al-Qaida collaboration inthe November attacks is still unproven, Al-Qaeda'sfinancing and operational expertise can greatlyenhance the efficacy of terrorist attacks relative toattacks launched by domestic terrorist cellsoperating alone.

Turkey a sitting duck?

6 January 2004Chartered Insurance Institute Stepping Ahrad

Roadshow, Birmingham, UKwww.cii.co.uk/events/eventscalendar/

14 January 2004 Aon presents ‘Employers’ Liability Seminar’,Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh, Scotland

www.aon.com


Roadshow, Liverpool, UKwww.cii.co.uk/events/eventscalendar/

18-20 January 2004The Insurance Summit

The Ritz Carlton, Marcus Evans, Amelia Island,Florida, USA

www.theinsurancesummit.com


Roadshow, Belfast ,UKwww.cii.co.uk/events/eventscalendar/

22 January 2004Ninth Annual Insurance Leader of the Year

Awards DinnerThe New York Marriot Marquis, New York, US

[email protected]

22-23 January 200412th Annual National Health Benefits

ConferenceWyndham Westshore Hotel, Tampa, Florida. US

27 January 2004FSA Authorisation Workshop

Norwich, UK

28-29 January 2004Successfully Managing Terrorism Insurance Risk

Post 9/11New York, [email protected]

29 Janaury 2004Lloyd's 12 Months on Reformed Resurgence

Vinter's Hall, London, UKwww.ibc-financial.com/lloyds

9-11 Febuary 2004Insuring Export Credit and Political Risk

Café Royal, 14th Annual Global ConventionLondon, UK

10 February 2004Fourth Rountable on Healthcare Reform in Japan

Hotel Okura, Tokyo, Japan

17-20 February 2004World Insurance Forum

Bermudawww.worldinsuranceforum.bm

25-26 February 2004PMRA 2004

The Brewery Conference and ExhibitionLondon, UK

26-27 February 2004Insurance Outsourcing Forum

Wyndham Westshore Hotel, Tampa, Florida, US

26-27 February 2004Insurance Outsourcing Forum: Strategies for SuccessWyndham Westshore Hotel, Tampa, Florida, US

www.tfconferences.com

Diary dates24 Hour Aeromedical Travel Service

Contact: Marc Lucas, Voyageur AeroMedical Travel, Voyageur Buildings,43 Colston Street, Bristol BS1 5AX Tel: +44 117 921 0401

Fax:+44 117 925 5940 Email: [email protected]

Bringing down the cost of repatriation


SERVICEDIRECTORY 35

AIR AMBULANCE

Aerojet 4631 NW 31st Ave #220 Tel: +1 954 730 9300 [email protected] Stuart HaymanFt Lauderdale Fax: +1 954 485 6564 www.aero-jet.com PresidentFL 33309 00907 Jacabo BercoviciUSA Vice-President

Aeromed 365 Ltd Gainsborough House Tel: +44 1293 582 500 [email protected] Alida BentonHigh Street Fax: +44 1293 582 501 www.aeromed365.com Managing DirectorCrawleyRH10 1BWUK

Aeromedevac Inc 4420 Rainer Ave. Suite 202 Tel: +1 800 462 0911 [email protected] Raul MendozaSan Diego Fax: +1 619 284 7918 www.aeromedevac.com Vice PresidentCA 92120USA

Air Ambulance Network 905 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive Tel: +1 800 327 1966 [email protected] Mark JonesSuite 330 Fax: +1 727 937 0276 Vice PresidentTarpon SpringsFlorida 34689USA

Air Ambulance Professionals, Inc. Ft. Lauderdale Executive Airport Tel: +1 954 491 0555 [email protected] Brian L. Weisz1535 South Perimeter Rd Fax: +1 954 491 6114 www.airambulanceprof.com PresidentHangar 36B Ft. LauderdaleFlorida 33309 USA

Air Ambulance Specialists, Inc. 8001 S. Interport Blvd. Toll Free: +1 800 424 7060 [email protected] Donald JonesSuite 250 Tel: +1 720 875 9182 www.airaasi.com PresidentEnglewood Fax: +1 720 875 9183CO 80111USA

Air Trek Air Ambulance 28000 A-5 Airport Road Toll Free: +1 800 6335387 [email protected] David BumpPunta Gorda Tel: +1 941 6397855 www.medjets.com Vice PresidentFL 33982USA

AMREF Flying Doctor Service Wilson Airport Tel: +254 20 600 552 [email protected] Dr Bettina VaderaLangata Road Tel: +254 20 600 833 [email protected] Doctor/Medical DirectorPO Box 18617 Fax: +254 20 600 665 www.amref.org Sean CulliganNairobi Mob: +254 733 639088 OperationsKENYA Fax: +254 20 315 454

DRF German Air Rescue Raiffeisenstrasse 32 Tel (24hr): +49 711701070 [email protected] Rainer Horcher70794 Filderstadt Fax: +49 711701071 www.german-air-rescue.de Head of Alert CeterGERMANY

Egres Aeromedical Evacuation Services Postnet Suite 82 Tel: +27 11 701 2172 [email protected] S.D. Avice Du BuissonPrivate Bag 21 Fax: +27 11 701 2173 www.egres.co.za Managing DirectorCanseria 1748SOUTH AFRICA

Euro-flite Air Ambulance Helsinki International Airport Tel: +358 20510 1900 [email protected] Juani MissonenPO Box 187 Fax: +358 20510 1901 Coordinator/Programme DirectorFIN-01531 VantaaFINLAND

FAI Flight - Ambulance International Flughafenstrasse 100 (GAT) Tel: +49 911 36009 0 [email protected] Sven MuellerD-90411 Nuremberg Fax: +49 911 36009 59 www.flightambulance.net Operations ManagerGERMANY

Intensive Care Air Ambulance PO Box 27567 Tel (24hr): +254 722 600 600 [email protected] Rachel GitukuPost Code 0506 +254 733 600 600 Office ManagerWilson Airport +254 20 600 600 Wanjiku MurigiNairobi +870 762 395 121 Operations ManagerKENYA Fax (24hr): +254 20 605 050

Medic’Air International 35 Rue Jules Ferry Tel: +33 1 41 72 14 14 [email protected] Dr Herve Raffin(Air ambulance and rescue, 93170 Bagnolet (Paris) Fax: +33 1 48 57 10 10 www.medic-air.com General Managermedical escort worldwide) FRANCE Dr. Francois Bouchereau

Medical Director

Medical Wings 222 Room 3602 Tel: +662 247 3392 [email protected] Jarin KiatfuengfooBangkok International Airport Tel: +662 535 4735 www.medicalwings.com General Manager & DirectorViphavadeo-Rangsit Road Fax: +662 535 4355Sikan, DonmuangBangkok 10210, THAILAND

National Air Ambulance 3495 S.W. 9th Ave Tel: +1 954 359 9900 [email protected] George MartinezFt. Lauderdale Toll Free: +1 800 327 3710 www.nationalairambulance.com Manager Flight CoordinationFL 33315 Fax: +1 954 359 9500USA

To make an alteration to an existing listing email: [email protected]


SERVICEDIRECTORY 36 To have your company listed in the Service Directory email: [email protected] or call

Netcare 911 Aeromedical Netcare 911 House Tel: +27 11 254 1392 [email protected] Liz Ferguson49 New Road Fax: +27 11 254 1405 www.netcare911.co.zaHalfway HouseMidrand, 1610SOUTH AFRICA

Global Medical Support Ullevaal University Hospital Tel: +47 22 96 50 50 [email protected] Otto Karud0407 Oslo Telefax (24 hr): +47 22 96 50 51 www.globalmedicalsupport.com Marketing DirectorNORWAY Tel: +47 22 96 50 00 Mau Furuli

Telefax: +47 22 96 50 31 Operations Manager

South Pacific Air Ambulance NEW ZEALAND Tel: +649 256 9000 [email protected] Simon BartonAUSTRALIA Fax: +649 256 9111 General Manager OperationsSINGAPORE

Red Star Aviation Sahiba Gokcen Int. Airport Tel: +90 216 588 0216 [email protected] Mustafa AtacKurtkoy 34912 Fax: +90 216 588 0225 www.redstar-aviation.com CEOIstanbulTURKEY

Skyservice Lifeguard Montreal/Dorval Int’l Airport Tel: +1 305 534 5551 [email protected] David EwingAir Ambulance Inc 9785 Ave. Ryan Fax: +1 305 534 4190 www.skyservice.com Vice President

Montreal International Business DevelopmentQuebec H9P 1A2CANADA

Swiss Air Ambulance/REGA PO Box 1414 Tel: +41 333 333 333 [email protected] Walter StunziZurich - Airport Fax: +41 654 3590 www.rega.ch PR/Marketing ManagerCH-8058SWITZERLAND

Tyrol Air Ambulance PO Box 81 Tel: +43 512 224 220 [email protected] Jakob RinglerA-6026 Fax: +43 512 288 888 www.taa.at Managing DirectorInnsbruk Airport AUSTRIA

VeriSafe International Ltd Unit B, 6/F Tel: +825 3110 1488 [email protected] Francis ChanLippo Lieghton Tower Fax: +852 3110 2163 www.verisafehk.com Chairman103-109 Leighton Road www.verisafegroup.comCauseway BayHONG KONG

AIR AMBULANCE INTERIOR

Air Ambulance Technology A-5282 Tel: +43 7722 85051 [email protected] Egon KuntnerRanshofen Fax: +43 7722 85037/22 www.airambulancetechnology.com PresidentAUSTRIA

Bucher Leichtbau AG Indusriestrasse 1a Tel: +41 (I) 806 2424 [email protected] Daniel MettlerFallenden/Zurich Fax: +41 (1) 806 2420 www.bucher-group.com CEOCH-8117SWITZERLAND

ASSISTANCE COMPANIES

AMREF Flying Doctor Service Wilson Airport Tel: +254 20 600 552 [email protected] Dr Bettina VaderaLangataRoad Tel: +254 20 600 833 [email protected] Doctor/Medical DirectorPO Box 18617 Fax: +254 20 600 665 www.amref.org Sean CulliganNairobi Mob: +254 733 639088 OperationsKENYA Fax: +254 20 315 454

Antalya Assistance Muratpasa Mah. Tel: +90 242 243 6219 [email protected] Murat ArslanogluAdnan Menderes Bulvari No 19 Fax: +90 242 248 7724 www.fempatr.com Network ManagerGazihan K:4 D:21AntalyaTURKEY

Anubis Assistance International 2 Rue du Te Tel: +331 4816 1888 [email protected] Mr Dominique VernhesWorldwide Funeral Assistance BP 10375 Roissy Fax: +331 4816 1881 General Manager

CD6 Cedex 95706 FRANCE

ARC Transistance 11 Avenue Pleiades Tel: +32 2 776 04 70 [email protected] Hans BiekmannB-1200 Brussels Fax: +32 2 776 04 99 www.arctransistance.com Network DirectorBELGIUM

ASISTUR Paseo del Prado Tel: +53 7 866 4499 [email protected] Emilio Guevara Fernández208 e/ Colón y Trocadero Fax: +53 7 866 8087 www.asistur.com Managing DirectorHabana Vieja www.asistur.cu Nestor Silva PérezCiudad Habana Assistance Manager

CUBA

ASSIST-CARD 15, Rue du Cendrier Tel: +41 22 732 0320 [email protected] Alexia Keglevich1201 Geneva Fax: +41 22 738 6305 www.assist-card.com Managing DirectorSWITZERLAND

Assured Assistance Inc. 6880 Financial Drive UK Toll Free: +080013872487 [email protected] Martha TurnbullMississauga Toll Free: +18003872487 Director of OperationsOntario Tel: +1 905 816 2495L5N 7Y5 Fax: +1 905 813 4719CANADA

Customer Care Pty Ltd Level 3 Tel: +612 9202 8222 [email protected] Janine Benson60 Miller Street Fax: +612 9202 8220 Team ManagerNorth Sydney 2060NSWAUSTRALIA

FirstAssist Marshall’s Court Tel: +44 208 8652 1313 [email protected] Brian MorganMarshall’s Road Fax: +44 208 8661 7604 www.firstassist.co.uk Marketing ManagerSuttonSurrey SM1 4DUUK

First Assistance PO Box 17-310 Tel: +64 9 356 1650 [email protected] Mary-Jo McDonaldGreenlane Fax: +64 9 356 1798 www.firstassistance.co.nz Sales & Marketing ManagerAucklandNEW ZEALAND

Global Excel Management 73 Queen Street, Lennoxville Euro tel: +1 819 566 1130 [email protected] Brian AllattQuebec, J1M 1J3, CANADA NA tel: +1 866 566 1130 www.globalexcel.ca Executive Vice President4242 Cranmore Court Fax: +1 819 566 8335 Christine Francis-HerrinBelle Isle, FL 32812, USA Director of Business Development

Global Voyager Assistance PO Box 11 Tel: +7 095 775 0999 [email protected] Costas Danilenko125124 Fax: +7 095 775 0998 [email protected] CEOMoscow Cyprus tel: +357 24 62 5099 www.gva.ru Dr Arthur ZulficarovRUSSIA Cyprus Fax: +357 24 62 5065 Director of Operations

Goral Assistance Ltd. Corex House Tel: +972 9 957 9930 [email protected] Sidney KadochePO Box 12815 Fax: +972 9 957 9931 General ManagerHertzelya 46733ISRAEL

IKS Innovative Key Solutions Barbaros Bulvari Tel: +90 212 340 4 IKS(457) [email protected] Özge YildirimHattat Halim Sok. Uyum Apt 12 Tel: +90 212 274 99 90 www.iks.com.tr International Business Manager34349 Besiktas Fax: +90 212 275 13 76 Deniz AkIstanbul General ManagerTURKEY

LuzDoc International Medical Service Ltd Rua 25 de Abril, 12 Tel: +351 282 780 700 [email protected] Dr Maria Alice SilvaPraia da Luz Fax: +351 282 780 709 Medical Director8600-174 LUZ LGSPORTUGAL

Marm Assistance Sahiba Gokcen Int. Airport Tel: +90 216 588 0216 [email protected] Mrs Jill AtacKurtkoy 34912 Fax: +90 216 588 0225 www.redstar-aviation.com CEOIstanbul TURKEY

Mapfre Asistencia, S.A C/Gobelas, 41-45 Tel: +34 91 581 66 01 [email protected] Nikos AntimisarisMadrid 28023 Fax: +34 91 581 18 32 www.mapfre.com/asistencia Regional Director for EuropeSPAIN

MEDJET Assistance LLC PO Box 610629 Tel: +1 205 595 6626 [email protected] Philip R MorrisBirmingham Fax: +1 205 595 6658 www.medjetassistance.com Executive Vice PresidentAL 35261AlabamaUSA

Medex Assistance Corporation 8501 LaSalle Road Tel: +1 800 537 2029 [email protected] John HmelnickySuite 200 Fax: +1 410 453 6301 www.medexassist.com SVP Sales & MarketingTowsonMD 21286USA

Medex Assistance Corporation Victoria House, 5th Floor Tel: +44 1273 22 3000 [email protected] Robert Moore125 Queens Road Fax: +44 1273 22 3001 www.medexassist.com Director of Business Dev. UKBrightonEast Sussex BN1 3WBUK



SERVICEDIRECTORY 37+44 (0) 117 925 5151 To make an alteration to an existing listing email: [email protected]



Medisave Assistance PO Box 64272 Tel: +357 26 220 345 [email protected] Georgia Yagnam8073 Paphos Fax: +357 26 923 067 Managing DirectorCYPRUS Tel (24 hr): +357 99 55 3737

MK International Emergency Services 95, Ioanninon Street Tel: +30 210 5154600 [email protected] Minas Kaloumenos10444 Athens Fax: +30 210 5131660GREECE


South Pacific Air Ambulance NEW ZEALAND Tel: +649 256 9000 [email protected] Simon BartonAUSTRALIA Fax: +649 256 9111 General Manager OperationsSINGAPORE

Remed Assistance 4. Levent, E. Buyukdere Cad., Tel: +90 212 282 8077 [email protected] Dr. Atilla ErdagYunlisemre Sok. Fax: +90 212 282 8277 www.remedassistance.com Operations ManagerTopcu is Merkezi No1 D:14/B80660 IstanbulTURKEY

SOS-Hungary Assistance Company Csalogany Street 4/D Tel: +36 1240 0475 [email protected] Dr Peter FelkaiBudapest Fax: +36 1439 1440 www.soshungary.hu Medical DirectorH-1015 Hungary

TBS Team 24 d.o.o. Ljubljanska Ulica 42, Tel: +386 2618 2301 [email protected] Edvard Hojnik2000 Maribor Fax: +386 2618 5800 www.tbs-team24.com General ManagerSLOVENIJA Tomaz Bezensek(covering CROATIA, BOSNIA and HERZEGOVINA & SERBIA) Marketing Manager

TMCA 217 Broadway Tel: +1 212 964 8580 [email protected] Margaret WhartomSuite 600 Fax: +1 212 406 1520 www.tmcatravel.com Operational Manager / VP Travel DivisionNYCNY 10007

USA

Universal Assistance Avenida Córdoba 967 Tel: +(54 11) 4323 6027 [email protected] Ignacio MárquezC1054AA1 Fax: +(54 11) 4323 6001 www.ua.com.ar International Business ManagerBuenos AiresARGENTINA

VeriSafe International Ltd Unit B, 6/F Tel: +825 3110 1488 [email protected] Francis ChanLippo Lieghton Tower Fax: +852 3110 2163 www.verisafehk.com Chairman103-109 Leighton Road www.verisafegroup.comCauseway BayHONG KONG

World Travel Protection Canada Inc. 400 University Avenue Tel: +1 416 911 3565 [email protected] Dr. Ron MayerSuite 1500 Fax: +1 416 205 4676 [email protected] President & Chief Medical OfficerToronto www.wtp.ca Lambert BoendersOntario M5G 1S7 VP Operations & Customer RelationsCANADA

BROKERS

Parkview EMS Ltd 5770 Timberlea Blvd. Tel: +1 905 629 7557 [email protected] France PaquinSuite 201 Fax: +1 905 629 1927 www.parkviewems.comMississauga Toll Free: +1 888 795 9570Ontario L4W 4W7CANADA

CLAIMS HANDLERS

IKS Innovative Key Solutions Barbaros Bulvari Tel: +90 212 3404 IKS(457) [email protected] Özge YildirimHattat Halim Sok. Uyum Apt 12 Tel: +90 212 274 99 90 www.iks.com.tr International Business Manager34349 Besiktas Fax: +90 212 275 13 76 Deniz AkIstanbul General Manager

TURKEY

Mapfre Asistencia, S.A C/Gobelas, 41-45 Tel: +34 91 581 64 49 [email protected] Barbara MontenergoMadrid 28023 Fax: +34 91 581 16 86 www.mapfre.com/asistencia Cost Control Product ManagerSPAIN Tel: +34 91 581 64 37 [email protected] Virginia Villanueva

Fax: +34 91 581 41 81 Medical Director

Medex Assistance Corporation 8501 LaSalle Road Tel: +1 800 537 2029 [email protected] Ed BroderickSuite 200 Fax: +1 410 453 6301 www.medexassist.com Director of ClaimsTowsonMD 21286USA


SERVICEDIRECTORY 39+44 (0) 117 925 5151 To make an alteration to an existing listing email: [email protected]


CLAIMS MANAGEMENT

Global Excel Management 73 Queen Street, Lennoxville Euro tel: +1 819 566 1130 [email protected] Brian AllattQuebec, J1M 1J3, CANADA NA tel: +1 866 566 1130 www.globalexcel.ca Executive Vice President4242 Cranmore Court Fax: +1 819 566 8335 Christine Francis-HerrinBelle Isle, FL 32812 Director of Business DevelopmentUSA

Strategic Claims Management Ltd 150 Minories Tel: +44 845 345 6611 [email protected] Tim SnowballLondon EC3N 1LS Fax: +44 845 458 9633 CEOUK Nick Graham

Director

CONSULTING SERVICES

IKS Innovative Key Solutions Barbaros Bulvari Tel: +90 212 340 4 IKS(457) [email protected] Özge YildirimHattat Halim Sok. Uyum Apt 12 Tel: +90 212 274 99 90 www.iks.com.tr International Business Manager34349 Besiktas Fax: +90 212 275 13 76 Deniz AkIstanbul General Manager

TURKEY

The Maturin Group 902 Arabian Avenue, Tel: +1 407 382 3858 [email protected] Alan JonesWinter Springs Fax: +1 407 382 3846 PresidentFL 32708USA

Paradigm Network Consulting 2639 N. Riverside Drive Tel: +1 954 609 0573 [email protected] Addy GonzalezServices Inc. #1105 Fax: +1 954 252 4083 President

Pompano BeachFL 33062USA

CRITIAL CARE PATIENT TRANSPORTATION

Lufthansa German Airlines FRA SQ/B Tel: +49 561 99 33 7020 [email protected] Doris Ehring(Patient transport compartment) Frankfurt Airport Fax: +49 561 99 33 117 Key Account, Product &

D-60546 Mob: +49 172 36 77 929 Process ManagementGERMANY

CRM

IKS Innovative Key Solutions Barbaros Bulvari Tel: +90 212 340 4 IKS(457) [email protected] Özge YildirimHattat Halim Sok. Uyum Apt 12 Tel: +90 212 274 99 90 www.iks.com.tr International Business Manager34349 Besiktas Fax: +90 212 275 13 76 Deniz AkIstanbul General Manager

TURKEY

FUNERAL DIRECTORS

Defin Funeral Services Muratpasa Mah. Tel: +90 242 248 8389 [email protected] Murat ArslanogluAdnan Menderes Bulvari No 19 Fax: +90 242 248 7724 www.fempatr.com Network ManagerGazihan K:4 D:21AntalyaTURKEY

Funeraria Officia Roberto Zega Via Clelia 26-28 Tel: +39 067 840 300 [email protected] Cristina ZegaRoma Fax: +39 067 802 488 www.zega.it General ManagerITALY

Funeralcare International 221 Upper Richmond Road Tel: +44 20 8788 5303 [email protected] Mike JohansonPutney Fax: +44 20 8788 2525London SW15 6SQUK

Kenyon Christopher Henley 83 Westbourne Grove Tel: +44 20 7313 6920 [email protected] Christopher HenleyBayswater Fax: +44 20 7313 6999 www.kchrepatriation.com Managing DirectorLondon W2 4ULUK

MK International Emergency Services 95, Ioanninon Street Tel: +30 210 5154600 [email protected] Minas Kaloumenos10444 Athens Fax: +30 210 5131660GREECE

Phoenix International 13 The Broadway, Tel: +44 208 993 8767 [email protected] Steve ThomasGunnersbury Lane, Fax: +44 208 993 5797 Managing DirectorLondonW3 8HRUK



Rowland Brothers International 299 - 305 Whitehorse Road, Tel: +44(0)20 8684 2324 [email protected] Steve RowlandWest Croydon Fax: +44(0)20 8684 8000 www.rowlandbrothersinternational.co.uk Tony RowlandSurrey CR0 2HR

UK

HOSPITALS

Baptist Health South Florida 8900 North Kendall Drive Tel: +1 786 596 2373 [email protected] Yohandra NoriegaMiami www.baptisthealth.net Int. Patient Service DirectorFlorida 33176USA

Clinica Benidorm Avenida Alfonso Purchades 8 Tel: +34 96 585 3850 [email protected] Ana DaPaz Brown03500 Benidorm Fax: +34 96 586 4345 www.clinicabenidorm.com Medical DirectorAlicanteSPAIN

Evangelismos Hospital 87 Vasileos Costantinou Tel: +357 26 848 000 [email protected] Markos ChristodoulidesPO Box 62237 Tel: +357 99 644 867 Manager General8062 Pafos Fax: +357 26 911 883CYPRUS

Florida Medical Center 5000 W. Oakland Park Blvd Tel: +1 954 730 2780 [email protected] Lydia RodriguezFt. Lauderdale Fax: +1 954 730 2805 www.floridamedicalctr.com Director Admitting DepartmentFL 33313 Tel: +1 954 609 0573 [email protected] Addy GonzalezUSA Fax: +1 954 252 4083 International Business Consultant

North Ridge Medical Center 5757 N. Dixie Highway Tel: +1 954 202 4859 [email protected] Doreen FelkerFt. Lauderdale Fax: +1 954 938 3230 www.northridgemedical.com Director Admitting DepartmentFL 33334 Tel: +1 954 609 0573 [email protected] Addy GonzalezUSA Fax: +1 954 252 4083 International Business Consultant

INTERNATIONAL GROUND TRANSPORT CO-ORDINATOR


MEDICAL COST CONTAINMENT

ChargeCare International PO Box 18 Tel: +44 1409 261 368 [email protected] Philip MarshallHolsworthy Fax: +44 1409 261 633 www.chargecare.co.uk Director of OperationsEX22 7WBUK

Global Excel Management 73 Queen Street, Lennoxville Euro tel: +1 819 566 1130 [email protected] Brian AllattQuebec, J1M 1J3, CANADA NA tel: +1 866 566 1130 www.globalexcel.ca Executive Vice President4242 Cranmore Court Fax: +1 819 566 8335 Christine Francis-HerrinBelle Isle, FL 32812 Director of Business DevelopmentUSA

Global Healthcare Network 5960 West Parker Road Tel: +1 469 429 2185(Ext 127) [email protected] Ken JonesSuite 278, #239 Fax: +1 972 312 0549 www.ghealthnet.com PresidentPlanoTexas 75093USA

Global Medical Managment Inc. 7901 SW 36th Street Tel: +1 954 370 6404 [email protected] Raija Hoppula ItzchakiSuite 100 Fax: +1 954 370 8130 www.gmmusa.com Assistant Vice President of MarketingDavieFlorida 33328USA

Hygeia Corporation 7200 Corporate Centre Drive Tel: +1 305 594 9291 [email protected] Joe RadiganSuite 610 Fax: +1 305 594 9201 www.hygeia.net Chief Operating OfficerMiami FL 33126USA

IKS Innovative Key Solutions Barbaros Bulvari Tel: +90 212 340 4 IKS(457) [email protected] Özge YildirimHattat Halim Sok. Uyum Apt 12 Tel: +90 212 274 99 90 www.iks.com.tr International Business Manager34349 Besiktas Fax: +90 212 275 13 76 Deniz AkIstanbul General ManagerTURKEY

Intercontinental Corporation 135 N. Pennsylvania Street Tel: +1 317 238 5700 [email protected] Karla KregerSuite 770 Fax: +1 317 637 6634 Marketing ManagerIndianapolisIN 46204USA

Mapfre Asistencia, S.A C/Gobelas, 41-45 Tel: +34 91 581 64 37 [email protected] Virginia VillanuevasMadrid 28023 Fax: +34 91 581 41 81 www.mapfre.com/asistencia Medicall Director SPAIN


SERVICEDIRECTORY 41

Medex Assistance Corporation Victoria House, 5th Floor Tel: +44 1273 22 3000 [email protected] Robert Moore125 Queens Road Fax: +44 1273 22 3001 www.medexassist.com Director of Business Dev. UKBrightonEast Sussex BN1 3WB

UK

Medisave Assistance PO Box 64272 Tel: +357 26 220 345 [email protected] Georgia Yagnam8073 Paphos Fax: +357 26 923 067 Managing DirectorCYPRUS Tel (24 hr): +357 99 55 3737

Medsave USA 200 Garden City Plaza, Tel: +1 516 622 1700 [email protected] Jeff BakerSuite 201 Fax: +1 516 622 1733 www.medsaveusa.com COOGarden CityNY 11530USA


Olympus Managed Health Care Inc. 777 Brickell Avenue Tel: +1 305 459 4800 [email protected] Frank RecioSuite 950 Fax: +1 305 530 0766 www.omhc.com Senior Vice PresidentMaimiFlorida 33131USA

Star Healthcare Network, Inc. 850 Seventh Avenue Tel: +1 212 581 8228 [email protected] Gigi GalenSuite # 803 Fax: +1 212 581 8272 PresidentNew York 10019USA

TMCA 217 Broadway Tel: +1 212 964 8580 [email protected] Margaret WhartomSuite 600 Fax: +1 212 406 1520 www.tmcatravel.com Operational Manager / VP Travel DivisionNYCNY 10007USA


MEDICAL ESCORT ON COMMERCIAL AIRLINES


Air Ambulance Network 905 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive Tel: +1 800 327 1966 [email protected] Mark JonesSuite 330 Fax: +1 727 937 0276 Vice PresidentTarpon SpringsFlorida 34689USA


Goral Assistance Ltd. Corex House Tel: +972 9 957 9930 [email protected] Sidney KadochePO Box 12815 Fax: +972 9 957 9931 General ManagerHertzelya 46733ISRAEL

Medic’Air International 35 Rue Jules Ferry Tel: +33 1 41 72 14 14 [email protected] Dr Herve Raffin(Air ambulance and rescue, 93170 Bagnolet (Paris) Fax: +33 1 48 57 10 10 www.medic-air.com General Managermedical escort worldwide) FRANCE Dr. Francois Bouchereau

Medical Director


MEDJET Assistance LLC PO Box 610629 Tel: +1 205 595 6626 [email protected] Philip R MorrisBirmingham Fax: +1 205 595 6658 www.medjetassistance.com Executive Vice PresidentAL 35261AlabamaUSA


+44 (0) 117 925 5151 To make an alteration to an existing listing email: [email protected]


SERVICEDIRECTORY 42 To have your company listed in the Service Directory email: [email protected]


MEDICAL PROVIDERS


Aliance International Medical Services PO Box 2650 Tel: +27 11 290 6330 [email protected] BA BretonRivonia 2128 Fax: +27 11 290 6329 Managing DirectorSOUTH AFRICA


LuzDoc International Medical Service Ltd Rua 25 de Abril, 12 Tel: +351 282 780 700 [email protected] Dr Maria Alice SilvaPraia da Luz Fax: +351 282 780 709 Medical Director8600-174 LUZ LGSPORTUGAL

Mapfre Asistencia, S.A C/Gobelas, 41-45 Tel: +34 91 581 64 37 [email protected] Virginia VillanuevaMadrid 28023 Fax: +34 91 581 41 81 www.mapfre.com/asistencia Medical DirectorSPAIN



SOS-Hungary Assistance Company Csalogany U.4/D Tel: +36 1240 0475 [email protected] Dr Peter FelkaiBudapest Fax: +36 14391440 www.soshungary.hu Medical DirectorH-1015HUNGARY

STRETCHER SYSTEMS

Bucher Leichbau AG Indusriestrasse 1a Tel: +41 (1) 806 2424 [email protected] Daniel MettlerFallenden/Zurich Fax: +41 (1) 806 2420 www.bucher-group.com CEOCH-8117SWITZERLAND

Med-Pac Inc PO Box 285 Tel: +1 701 492 7950 [email protected] Tim Wheelbourg/Ralph Braaten302B 39 St. NW Fax: +1 701 492 7951 www.med-pac.net PresidentFargoND 58107USA

TRAVEL AGENTS


Voyageur Aeromedical Travel Voyageur Buildings Tel: +44 (0)117 927 3554 [email protected] Marc Lucas43 Colston Street Fax: +44 (0)117 925 5940 www.voyageur.co.uk General ManagerBristol BS1 5AXUK

UNDERWRITERS

Mapfre Asistencia, S.A C/Gobelas, 41-45 Tel: +34 91 581 51 61 [email protected] Jose Manuel Martinez IglesiasMadrid 28023 Fax: +34 91 581 18 32 www.mapfre.com/asistencia Int’l Commercial DirectorSPAIN

CONTRIBUTORS

Baker-Bates headsFirstAssistFirstAssist hasappointed its firstchairman, RodneyBaker-Bates. With aninspiring four decadesexperience in businessand commerce, andmost recently holdingchief executiveposition at Prudential Financial Services, Baker-Bates isexpected to add enormous value to FirstAssist.He started his career as a chartered accountant beforemoving into management consultancy in the financialsector, where he focused on design and implementationof trading systems. He is currently chairman of theexecutive managing partners of C. Hoare & CoBankers, as well as having a portfolio of non-executivedirector and chairman appointments which makes him astrong addition to the FirstAssist team.‘It is such a boost to have someone on the board withsuch a wealth of experience,’ confirmed Tim Ablett,chief executive. ‘The leadership team at FirstAssistalready has wide-ranging experience in the health andwellbeing marketplace and Rodney will complementthat with his hands-on knowledge of a number of ourkey target sectors, which we want to develop in thecoming months and years.’

End of era at BAThe departure of Lord Marshal as chairman of BritishAirways, after 20 years at the helm, marks the end ofan era. But the succession of Martin Broughton, whowill give chief executive Rod Eddington a new face atthe top, will probably be well received, not leastbecause he comes without the baggage of theprevious leader who had fought so many battles – notleast with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic. He is taking a big pay cut from his previous job attobacco giant BAT. He is himself a non-smoker.

Two new faces for Heath

As a result of continued growth in its retail division,Heath Lambert Insurance Services (HLIS) hasappointed Paul Hickman as operations director,covering home and contents, motor and travelinsurance. Paul joins HLIS following three years asoperations manager for Primary Direct, running theirpersonal lines contact centre operation. He began hisinsurance career as an underwriter 27 years ago.In addition, David Rudd has been appointed businessand product development director. Prior to joiningHLIS in 2001, David was responsible for product, e-commerce and business development at HalifaxGeneral Insurance Services. He has also spent 20years in a number of insurance and financial servicesroles for Legal & General and the NAAFI.Paul Smith, managing director of HLIS commented,‘These appointments significantly strengthen themanagement team and enable us to focus uponexpanding our operational capabilities whilst alsodeveloping new products and distribution channels.’

New year, old handThis new year, an old-hand at Fortis CorporateInsurance will be appointed as chief executive officer.Patrick Coene, currently the vice president at Fortis,will shortly be reporting directly to Jozef De May,chairman of the supervisory board.Patrick began his career at DRI Europe, an economicinformation and forecasts provider. Subsequently hewas a management consultant and project leader withMcKinsey & Company for six years. More than 10years ago, Patrick entered the operational world ofinsurance within Fortis, initially at Fortis AG, and thenat Fortis Corporate Insurance.

AIG career paths Insurance giant AIG has named Don Kanak as vicechairman. Kanak, formerly the head of AIG’s companiesin Japan and South Korea, will join Martin Sullivan insharing chief operating officer and vice chairman duties.AIG Europe Ltd has also appointed Lesa Storr asregional underwriter for the crisis management division.With 11 years of insurance industry experience underher belt, Lesa will have no problem developing AIGEurope’s crisis management portfolio in the UK.

Rogers toughensJourneys’ profileTop travel insurerJourneys TravelInsurance has selectedJohn Rogers for thepost of marketingexecutive. Journeysbelieves that Rogers’role will strengthenthe company’s profile,build on existing traderelationships and willpromote Journeys topotential new agencies throughout the UK.Commenting on the new appointment, managingdirector Patrick Chong said, ‘John brings to Journeys awealth of creative experience and we will worktogether to develop new initiatives that help keepJourneys ahead of the competition.’

BIBA chooses top dogs

The British InsuranceBrokers’ Association(BIBA) has announcedthe appointment ofMax Taylor aschairman elect of thetrade organisation inJuly 2004. He takesup the post withundivided boardapproval and willsucceed HamishRitchie, the currentchairman of BIBA, atthe July AnnualGeneral Meeting.Max is formerchairman of Lloyd’s,and deputy chairmanof Aon Limited wherehe is a member of thecompany’s worldwidegroup executivecommittee. In his roleat Aon, Max isresponsible for managing and developing major clientrelationships around the world and for developingAon Risk Service’s business.BIBA’s announcement follows its recent appointment ofnew chief executive Eric Galbraith, who joined inNovember. Eric Galbraith started in the broking businessin 1965 with the Marsh Group and 30 years later wenton to run the Royal Bank of Scotland insurances. Threeyears ago, he joined Aviva/Norwich Union. Hamish Ritchie, BIBA’s chairman, said, ‘Eric was theselection board’s unanimous choice for the job. He fulfilledthe key criteria of someone with considerable experienceof the industry, who was well known in both the brokingand underwriting field and who is passionately committedto the insurance broking business.’

Moves at top ofSkandiaOne of Sweden’s top financial services businesses,Skandia Försäkrings AB, has appointed a new chiefexecutive officer, Hans-Erik Andersson, who wasformerly a senior executive with the group. Since1999, he has been chairman of the Nordic region forMarsh & McLennan Cos, also known as MMC, andfor Marsh Europe, which is MMC’s risk and insuranceservices operating concern in Europe.Mr Andersson said that he is keen to get started in hisnew job, adding that Skandia has a ‘strong, soundcore, and an optimistic view of the future.’Bengt Braun has resigned as chairman of Skandia aftera report alleging that the executives had misled theboard and auditors. This was the latest instalment in along-running corporate scandal involving accusations ofmismanagement, excessive bonuses and free luxuryapartments for some of the firm’s top managers.Former CEO Lars-Eric Petersson was sacked last April,and the goup has had to unravel its internationalnetwork. Established in 1855 and a veteran ofinternational insurance markets, the Swedish grouphas had to wind down some of its foreign operationsas economies have slowed and capital markets havefaltered, especially in the US.

Top man at GoshawkquitsChris Pagan, chief executive of insurance groupGoshawk, has left the company, which was recentlykicked out of Lloyd’s for its management failings. Pagansaid that he would not be resigning over the matter,which makes one wonder if he was pushed.Group underwriting director Andrew Gammell alsoleft at the end of what has not been a happy year forthe company. Goshawk ceased trading at the Londonmarket after an independent audit.

Would you liketo write for us?Are you interested orinvolved in travel insuranceor health industries?

Whether you are a professionaljournalist or an industryprofessional we would love tohear from you

Call Ian Cameron at the ITIJ officesor email him: [email protected]

Published on behalf of Voyageur UK (Travel Services) Ltd,Voyageur Buildings, 43 Colston Street, Bristol BS15AX, UK

The information contained in this publication has been publishedin good faith and every effort has been made to ensure itsaccuracy. Neither the publisher nor Voyageur Ltd can accept anyresponsibility for any error or misinterpretation. All liability forloss, disappointment, negligence or other damage caused byreliance on the information contained in this publication, or in theevent of bankruptcy or liquidation or cessation of the trade of anycompany, individual or firm mentioned, is hereby excluded.

Printed by St. Ives (Roche) Ltd

Copyright © Voyageur Publishing 2003. Materials in thispublication may not be reproduced in any form withoutpermission.

Tim Ablett has worked in a senior position for a number ofinsurers, including Lloyds, International Assistance Services,Sun Alliance and Groupama. In April 2003, he was at thehead of a successful bid for the healthcare and assistancebusiness of Royal & SunAlliance – which has now beenrebranded as FirstAssist Group Limited and which he nowleads as chief executive.

Roger Allnutt is a freelance travel writer based in Canberra,Australia, and has material published widely in magazinesand newspapers in Australia and New Zealand. He travelswidely both in Australia and overseas.

Dick Atkins is chief counsel for International Recoveries,Philadelphia, which provides global legal assistance to thetravel insurance industry. He is in charge of InternationalRecoveries’ legal hotline and has been involved in handlinginternational legal incidents for the past 20 years. He can bereached by e-mail on [email protected].

Dr Simon Brownleader is the senior medical officer atHealix International.

Miles Clarke is a Sydney-based freelance journalist withmore than two decades’ experience in newspapers, radioand trade press. As a business and travel writer, his worktakes him throughout the Pacific, Southeast and East Asia,Australia and New Zealand.

Saby Ganguly is an India-based business writer with morethan 20 years’ experience, including 16 in the Middle East.He is also the founder of IndiaOneStop.Com, which is oneof India’s earliest established business-to-business websites.

David Ing is a freelance journalist covering mainly travel andtourism issues in Spain. He writes on air transport for aleading international news agency, as well as contributingspecial features to Newsweek and writing in-flight magazinearticles and guidebooks.

iJET® Travel Intelligence® (www.ijet.com), the travel riskmanagement company, provides real-time TravelIntelligence information through its award-winningWorldcue® technology platform for tracking andcommunicating with travellers. iJET services are backed byregional and category specialists from the fields ofintelligence, security, travel, and health who staff an around-the-clock operations centre in Annapolis, Md. For moreinformation, look at www.ijet.com.

Dr Sean Keogh is managing director of SecureRetrieve,which is an integrated security and medical service that hefounded in 2001. He is a certified consultant in emergencymedicine in Europe and Australasia and holds an MBA fromLondon Business School. He has extensive internationalexperience in challenging, remote and high-risk adverseenvironments worldwide, ranging from Afghanistan tourban Soweto.

Milan Korcok is an award-winning freelance health policyand economics writer who covers travel insurance, publichealth, and medical education issues in Canada and theUnited States. He has been writing about health financingand policy issues in the United States and Canada since the1960s and is a frequent contributor to leading NorthAmerican professional journals and consumer media. Helives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Fiona McDonald leads the travel insurance team atFirstAssist. Before the new company was created, sheworked for over 23 years at Royal & SunAlliance, takingover responsibility for Royal & SunAlliance’s travel accountin 1997. She leads a specialist team of underwriters andaccount managers in Purley, and is chair of the ABI TravelInsurance Committee.

Joaquin Rodriguez is a freelance journalist specialising inSpanish affairs. He has worked in a number of posts,including PR and communications manager at MapfreAsistencia, communications officer in the Spanish Navy, andnews correspondent for the Spanish press.

David Stirling began his career at Lloyd’s in reinsurance, andprogressed through the handling, production and placementof all classes of non-marine insurance and reinsurance. In1985, he set up Crispin Speers & Partners with a team ofcolleagues and is currently responsible for both the UK andinternational accident and health risks, including employeebenefits and treaty reinsurance.


ONTHE MOVE 43

Max Taylor

Lord Marshall (right) with Rod Eddington

© Newscast

Eric Galbraith

18 page 22 page 26 international travel insurance journal ... · international travel health...

Documents