Silent Insurance Reviews – what are they and do I need one?

Until you need to make a claim, do you really know how good your insurance is?

Can you be certain that your existing policies provide the right protection and importantly, are competitively priced with limits and excesses?

The risk of not having the protection you need from any insurance portfolio has always been important, as has getting this protection at the right price. But the current financial climate is bringing this to the forefront more than ever before. We recently spoke about how the cost of living crisis has impacted consumer buying behaviour when it comes to insurance where the temptation to cut corners and reduce or cancel protection has never been higher.

This is why we offer a process called a silent review, helping you to get the answers you need to the questions you should be asking when it comes to insurance.

What is a silent review?

A silent review can give you peace of mind and reassurance that the cover you have in place will protect you in the way you expect it to, should the worse happen. A silent review involves engaging specialists and insurance experts to undertake a full review of current insurance arrangements, without disrupting existing arrangements or making existing brokers or insurers aware that the review is taking place.

A silent review is particularly useful when business circumstances change; such as upgrading systems or operations, expanding, acquiring or selling. Similarly, they can be of value if there have been changes to who handles the insurance, either at the company or the broker. Changes to claims trends may also warrant a review. If the insurances have just been renewed, a silent review can provide peace of mind, and in some cases, identify important coverage issues that were not addressed at the last renewal.

What does a silent review entail?

A silent review will take into account trade process, Risk Management and Health & Safety procedures to ensure that positive risk features are reflected in the premium that is being paid.

Business, industry and commerce moves at a pace, but we often find insurance programmes don’t adapt or evolve to match these developments. Complacency and apathy are unacceptable.

Typical reviews will address the following areas:

1. Insurance cover - including terms, conditions, warranties, limitations and exclusions, as well as adequacy of the sum insured, liability limits and excesses
2. Insured and uninsured risks, specifically looking at activities undertaken to ensure suitable coverage has been purchased
3. Insurance programme structure – understanding if there is an alternative way to structure your insurance programme that could bring added benefits to your business, including cost benefit analysis
4. Costs (premiums and fees)
5. Service - including risk and claims management support, plus policy appropriateness considering recent claims trends
6. Adequacy of programme against emerging/evolving risks, i.e. crime, cyber and environmental

From a risk support perspective, a review would generally include:

Claims Management

• Claims analysis, tracking and trending reviews
• Positive risk mitigation
• Challenging insurer reserving and cleanse claims experiences to best present clients to the insurance market.

Risk Profiling

• Valued by clients who consistently see cost benefits
• Highlights to insurers what a client does, how they do it, processes, systems etc and details risks and exposures and then highlights/emphasises protections and risk mitigation measures
• By articulating the risk positives, we always differentiate clients, remove insurer misconceptions, generate optimal interest and ultimately improved terms

At Towergate, we do not charge for silent review and there are no hidden fees. Our aim to is impress you to a level where you may consider working with us in the future; we believe we will demonstrate our value as a trusted advisor.

Who conducts the review?

Your primary Towergate contact will conduct the review with support from our numerous in-house specialist teams. Our colleagues are all market leading practitioners and come from multi-national broker backgrounds with relevant trade and industry experience.

We are a business and risk advisor, who are experts in insurance service and placement. We lead with Risk Management and our driving motivation is to help clients best protect their brand, reputation, balance sheet, cashflow, assets and people.

We understand that it can be difficult breaking away from long-established relationships with insurance brokers. This is why Towergate offer ‘silent reviews’ – which are exactly that. A completely confidential review is conducted in the background in the strictest of confidences – not disturbing your existing broker relationship or the insurance market generally.

Corporate insurance from Towergate

We offer a range of corporate insurance policies and risk management services including:

• Our sector specialisms
• Other products and services
• Local knowledge and expertise