What’s New: In Brief (May 03, 2007)

Risk managers are accustomed to taking steps to protect their businesses from fires and floods, but are beginning to consider other, less tangible risks, A.M. Best reportsIn addition to traditional risks, risk managers are focusing on their companys economic, social and environmental impacts, as well as changing government regulations worldwide, the ratings agency reported in its coverage of the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) annual conference in New Orleans.One such emerging risk is reputational risk, A.M. Best reported, citing, Peter Breitstone, the managing principal and chief executive officer of Aons Environmental Services Group. A boycott can cost more than any catastrophe, A.M. Best quotes Breitstone as saying during the Sustainability: The New Frontier For Corporate Risk Management panel.Companies should also be interested in how their actions affect the environment, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because consumers, shareholders and regulators are interested in how their activities may be contributing to environmental changes.

Lloyds of London said it is looking at ways to make it easier for underwriters and brokers to ensure that insurance contracts are right first time by piloting technology that will check insurance slips automatically.Working with a user group of market practitioners, Lloyds says it has teamed up with Adsensa a London Market supplier of slip and policy checking tools for a two-month pilot of Wordsensa technology.The technology automatically checks slips against a standard set of rules provided by Lloyds, and reports back immediately on any areas that are filled in incorrectly or missing, Lloyds said. This means that Lloyds managing agents will have greater confidence that all slips are being checked in line with Lloyds quality checks, and is expected to make the whole process much faster and more efficient once fully developed.If the pilot is successul, it will make it easier for experienced staff in the market to check slip quality, and ensure that accurate contracts are issued much earlier in the process. It will also be rolled out to the rest of the market.