What’s New: In Brief (April 11, 2007)
April 11, 2007 by Canadian Underwriter
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Allegient Systems, a software and service provider, has launched its Independent Adjusters ASP Bill Review (IA ASP) program, promoted as the industrys only Web-based end-to-end bill review solution designed specifically for independent adjusters.
Available for immediate use, IA ASP expands the capabilities of Allegients IA Bill Review solution (available since 2001) by
enabling independent adjusters to submit electronic invoices to insurers;
providing consistency of submissions, reduction in errors, and
providing quicker turnaround of payments.
Fifteen insurance carriers in Canada and the United States currently use Allegients IA Bill Review. The IA Bill Review program has been used to process the invoices of more than 1,000 independent adjuster companies.
According to Allegient CEO, John F. Kelly: Our insurance company clients have increasingly adopted a vendor management approach for all of their claims service providers. With electronic bill submission and review now being the standard for legal bills, offering similar capabilities to independent adjusters was the next logical step.
Increased premiums that P&I clubs are asking their ship-owners to pay are justified, even if the shipping industry appears buoyant, according to Michael Butler, an insurance partner at leading business adviser and accountant, Moore Stephens.
Strong freight markets and a generally buoyant shipping industry, meanwhile, do not translate, historically, into lower P&I premiums, Butler wrote in the latest issue of the Moore Stephens shipping newsletter, Bottom Line. The more ships there are trading, the greater the scope for a potential increase in casualties.
Put bluntly, more ships must inevitably mean more claims. And if the cost of meeting claims increases, then so must the premiums.
Butler wrote he has heard several arguments in favour of lower premium increases or no increases at all. He said the arguments against premium increases encompass everything from a buoyant shipping industry to a recovering investment market.
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