We are approaching 2 years of dealing with the Covid19 pandemic. The impact on business closures commenced in March 2020 following Government announcements by An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar. Insurers, Brokers and Loss Assessors were being contacted in relation to potential claims for business interruption losses resulting from closure or denial of access following infectious disease. […]
Breaking news – the FCA test case on Covid19 Business Interruption claims has been decided in favour of the Policyholders and against Insurers where the infectious disease or denial of access wording is present. The Supreme Court Judgement also ruled that the “trends clause” could not be used against policyholders, where the only negative trend […]
Charity 2020 has been a difficult year for many. To celebrate the hard work and resilience of our team this year, Balcombes asked staff to nominate their special charity and we have selected 4 deserving charities to support this year: Aoibheann’s Pink Tie Make a Wish Autism Assistance Dogs Cara Rescue Dogs We have been […]
Christmas madness It’s usually the silly season in Insurance once we get to December. Normally, staff are attending Christmas parties, office get-togethers, boozy lunches and social nights out. The younger ones do the 12 pubs, secret Santa draws, Christmas jumpers etc. Staff however do their best to settle as many claims as possible before the Christmas […]
Initial Reactions The arrival of Covid19 in Ireland and the lockdown of businesses etc caused mayhem for many companies and their employees. Many in the Insurance Industry had to take a detailed look at the Business Interruption policy wordings, to decipher whether the policy should respond to cover the loss or not. We ourselves examined […]
Trust in the Insurance Industry I have worked in the Insurance Industry since November 1980, so it will be coming up on 40 years later this year. I don’t know where those 40 years have gone. I am aware that trust in financial services generally is low in Ireland. Despite the introduction of the first […]
We are in the front-line of dealing with enquiries from business owners in relation to whether their business interruption cover will pay for any loss of profit as a result of closure due to Covid-19. Business interruption cover At this stage we have examined many commercial policy wordings and most of them require that in […]
No ordinary Status Red Alert In 2018 we had the Beast from the East – a severe weather event that brought the country to its knees for about a week in March 2018 as heavy snowfalls and temperatures as low as -14C engulfed the country. There were shortages of bread. Schools and businesses closed as […]
“If Insurance is defined as a risk transfer mechanism, then Loss Assessing could be defined as a loss transfer mechanism.” Jim Flannery, ACII, Director, Balcombes Claims Management Risk Transfer The concept of risk transfer in insurance is a long established one. The premiums of the many pay for the losses of the few. In other […]
The most common claims we encounter at Christmas time Christmas tree goes on fire Candle fire Business premises goes on fire Business Interruption Fairy lights go on fire Burst pipe due to freeze up Storm damage Central heating pipe leak Impact damage Chimney fire Electrical appliance fire Break-in/Theft Whatever happens, Balcombes are there to help […]