Superb service winning entry

In the last issue, Hiscox News asked brokers for their suggestions about ways that Hiscox can improve the service it provides to its broker partners.

Barry Nicol, from Johnstone Insurance in Leeds, sent in the best idea and won an iPad 2 for his efforts.

Barry suggested ways for Hiscox to better interact with brokers and customers online. Here are his suggestions:

• Twitter provides a great opportunity for Hiscox to market its services to followers, such as brokers like Barry. In addition, it allows companies to provide a professional insight into industry matters.

• A document app could be useful for all policyholders. The app would allow instant access to current policy documentation, including claims telephone numbers. This would be especially valuable for someone who travels frequently and wants their policy documents close at hand.

• Skype calls would provide the ability to ‘meet’ people face to face, which could further enhance business opportunities. In addition, calls between Skype users are free.

Hiscox will be testing these suggestions as part of the Superb Service programme. Expect to hear more about this in 2012.

2012 graduate opportunities

Hiring is under way for Hiscox’s 2012 graduate intake. The graduate recruitment team is on the lookout for 12 candidates with flair and character who can demonstrate Hiscox’s values and have the spirit to bring them to life.

The two-year graduate programme aims to contribute to the future leadership of Hiscox. To get to that point, each graduate goes through a comprehensive training programme in their chosen profession, as well as three secondments. Two of these will be in the individual’s home country; for the third, graduates will take an international secondment to either the US, Bermuda or Europe.

If you know someone who may be interested in applying to the programme, please direct him or her to www.hiscox.com/graduates for further information.

High-ocatane trip

The Hiscox-sponsored Jota Sport AMR team completed the 2011 Le Mans Series at the Estoril circuit in Portugal in September. Despite obstacles being thrown their way – including a stop-and-go penalty and a spin into the gravel – Simon Dolan and Sam Hancock’s car finished fifth in its class, matching their previous best result of the year.

“It’s a great end to the season,” Simon said. “We have improved race on race throughout the season, which can only be positive for next year.”

Jota’s Team Principal, Sam Hignett, was pleased with the way his drivers and engineers went about their work. “It was a stunning performance from the entire team,” he said. “Both drivers had the best stints of the year, the performance of the pit crew at each stop was the fastest in the pit lane, and the guys prepared a supremely reliable car. Thanks must also go to our suppliers and sponsors without whose support none of this would have been possible.”

Ashley Cole, Head of Motor at Hiscox, took a group of Hiscox’s broker partners with him to Estoril to watch the Jota team in action and go behind the scenes in the pits. “The brokers we took have supported the Hiscox motor insurance product since it launched in 2008,” Ashley said. “It was great to be able to take them to watch the Jota team.”

Winners at BIA

Hiscox was delighted to win ‘Marketing Initiative of the Year’ at the 2011 British Insurance Awards. In a tough environment, Hiscox has seen positive shifts in brand perception, conversion ratios and sales with its ‘As Good As Our Word’ campaign.

Karen Hopson, Broker Marketing Manager at Hiscox, said: “We are thrilled with our award. Thanks to the support of our broker partners, we have had brilliant results with the campaign and it is great to be recognised in this way. It is good for those who get marketing support from us to know that they are getting an award-winning resource.”

The ‘Marketing Initiative of the Year’ winner was required to demonstrate how its organisation used marketing techniques to improve market share or enhance customer loyalty. The judges wanted to see the achievement of results against targets.

Hiscox would also like to congratulate all of its friends and colleagues at Howden Insurance Brokers, which won the ‘Insurance Broker of the Year’ award.

David Howden, Chairman, Howden Broking Group, added: “At Howden, we put our customers at the centre of everything that we do.

“The marketing support and advice that we received from Hiscox has enabled us to grow our LABsure scheme and deliver results for both parties. We are proud to get the topbroker award and applaud Hiscox on its marketing win.”

Tell Hiscox about superb service – and win an iPad 2

Hiscox recognises that the quality of service it provides is important to its brokers. When it comes to providing superb service, it aims to be the best in its class and comparable to service giants outside the insurance industry.

In May, Hiscox held the first of a series of broker workshops in Birmingham. Similar events in Glasgow and London followed closely behind. The objective was to include brokers in the development of ideas to improve the service Hiscox provides, both now and in the future.

Hiscox would like to include all of its brokers in this initiative. It is important to establish what good service looks like and give brokers the opportunity to shape any changes.

In order to recognise brokers’ contributions, Hiscox will give the person with the best idea a 16GB iPad 2.

Please send your entries to our guest editor and judge, Alan Millard, at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) by 31 September 2011.

Race for success

It is the ultimate test of motor sport endurance and one of the most famous races in the world, stretching drivers and mechanics to the limit.

This year, the Le Mans 24 Hour race in France featured Hiscox, which is sponsoring Jota Sport AMR, one of the teams that took part.

Jota Sport’s Aston Martin GT2 was decked out in Hiscox colours in front of about 235,000 spectators and a huge global television audience. Hiscox has joined with Jota Sport in a deal that sees it become the team’s official insurance partner.

There will also be business opportunities for Hiscox through other companies belonging to Jota Chairman Simon Dolan, who was awarded the British Chamber of Commerce’s 2010 Entrepreneur of the Year award.

“As a specialist in high-value home and motor insurance, the Le Mans series provides the type of high-quality branding opportunities that appeal to our customers,” said Annabel Venner, Marketing Director at Hiscox. “It’s also an opportunity to communicate to those with high-value cars that Hiscox offers extraordinary motor insurance that they just won’t find with a standard policy.”

Jota Sport’s participation in Le Mans 24 Hour will be followed by other Le Mans Series events at Imola in San Marino, Estoril in Portugal and Silverstone in the UK.

Get valuables valued

The values of gold and platinum have increased in recent years, making it vital for homeowners to check that their jewellery is not underinsured. Over time, the value of jewellery your clients already own can go up without them necessarily realising, so regular valuations are a good idea.
Austyn Tusler, home insurance expert at Hiscox, says that those receiving expensive jewellery as a gift should get in touch with you: “This will allow adequate cover for the loss or damage of their new acquisition to be arranged.”
According to John Benjamin, an independent jewellery consultant, the unexpected rise in the price of gold and the flourishing global market for jewellery at international auction – as well as the VAT increase – have created an exceptionally strong market for jewellery and watches in 2011.
“Clients who have not had their jewellery appraised in the last two to three years therefore run the serious risk of being unable to replace a loss at current retail levels,” he says. “It is strongly recommended that an updated valuation is carried out, not only on older items, but also on relatively recent purchases.”

Web of danger

Cyber crime costs the UK economy £27bn every year, more than three quarters of which is felt by businesses, according to a report by the Government’s Office of Cyber Security.
In light of these figures it is little surprise that recent research, carried out by Hiscox, revealed that nearly a quarter (22 per cent) of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are concerned about e-risks and online crime.
“It’s essential that SMEs have strategies in place to mitigate online risks,” said Hiscox SME insurance expert John Heaney. “Our research reveals that businesses are more concerned about hackers and ID theft [22 per cent] than having cash [8 per cent] stolen from their premises.”
More than a third (38 per cent) believed that their business is more likely to be a target for burglary since the start of the economic downturn.

Nature versus nurture

Are great entrepreneurs born or can they be made in the classroom? That was the subject for discussion at the Royal Institution debate in London in February – hosted by journalist Vivienne Parry – that was held in partnership with Hiscox.
On the side of nature was strategic adviser and business speaker Max McKeown. “Taking the big leaps and having the big idea is the thing you can’t be taught at business school,” he said. “The entrepreneur sees an opportunity and then grabs it. You can’t codify innate personality traits.”
Opposing him was Dean Jones, founder of the Lean Enterprise Academy, who said he had seen companies transformed by good business teaching. “You can create the conditions whereby potential entrepreneurs learn for themselves,” he said. “You can teach the process of problem solving.”
Steve Ridgeway, CEO of Virgin Atlantic, sat somewhere in the middle. The innate traits of an entrepreneur are important, he said, but need people alongside them who are trained to deal with legal or technological challenges, for example. “The entrepreneur will have an expensive big idea, the financial director will be on the other side of the page and they’ll meet somewhere in the middle,” he said.
“At Hiscox, we spend a great deal of our time insuring the risks that many entrepreneurs face every day,” said Alan Thomas, who helped organise the event. “We thought it would be interesting to try and unlock the secret of entrepreneurship, especially as we insure more than 100,000 SMEs, professionals and consultants in the UK.”

Your home is your castle

Going away for some winter sun, or visiting relatives over the festive season, and worried about your vulnerable empty property? Hiscox research shows that the traditional basics of home security should not be forgotten in the race to outwit thieves.

Recent examples of unusual security techniques identified by Hiscox include leaving ‘fake’ jewellery lying around, hanging out washing so that the house appears occupied, and hiding valuables in shoes and clothing.

Though these security ideas are often inventive, they can backfire. Hanging out washing, for example, will work against an owner when left out for a long time and, in one Hiscox claim, a pill box was accidentally thrown away – the homeowner forgot that they had hidden their engagement ring inside.

Andrew Cheney, Senior Risk and Valuation Advisor at Hiscox UK, visits hundreds of homes every year. “Homeowners can be quite creative in their attempts at securing their valuables,” he says. “However, many of their inventive hiding places are quite obvious to most thieves, and there’s also the danger of forgetting them.”

Andrew thinks it’s far better to prevent thieves from being able to enter your home in the first place. “Think of your property as having rings of security,” he says. “There are ways of securing your boundaries and driveway, followed by the main property and outbuildings. This technique has the effect of wearing an intruder down.”

INScribe’s five

INScribe, Hiscox’s online broker quote system for small, straightforward risks, celebrated its fifth birthday this autumn. It allows brokers to quote, print and bind cover at any time and has seen more than £5m of new business since its launch in 2005.

Information is transferred on to the Hiscox system, where the policy is then handled the same way as any other. Quote and bind can take as little as five minutes to complete, and there’s no need for a proposal form as a statement of fact is produced.

One of INScribe’s most useful features is its ability to package products, such as combining PI and Office to make a single policy with one premium. Hiscox also offers exclusive online-only products to brokers, such as negligence-only PI wording for smaller risks.

Karen Bathgate, Development Underwriter at Hiscox, says: “Brokers who use INScribe have given positive feedback, commenting that it saves them time and money while providing them with the ability to issue competitive quotes, bind cover and issue documentation direct to their clients.”

In 2009, 7,793 quotes were processed using INScribe, with a quotes-to-policy strike rate of 27%. Almost 350 brokers currently use the system, which should increase as INscribe enters its next five years.

A quicker turnaround

Hiscox has made changes to its Professions and Specialty Commercial (PSC) renewal process, improving both timings and documentation after consulting brokers about how the service could be made better.

“We visit brokers around the country regularly and, in our discussions, we asked what they would like to see changed with regards to renewals,” says Underwriting Centre Manager Laura Shaw. “We talked about what worked well and what didn’t, and decided on the direction we wanted to take.”

For continuous renewals, a new single pack of documentation will be sent to brokers for their clients instead of the previous two sets of posted papers. This notification will now go out six weeks before the renewal date instead of 13, after broker feedback suggested that Hiscox was sending it too early – often meaning that clients would forget to renew. “We often get calls from brokers looking to clarify the premium,” says Laura, “but now that information is on the documentation.”

Annual renewals currently require the client to complete and sign a paper proposal form with all their details, even though most of the time these haven’t changed in 12 months. “We’ve now made it much quicker and easier,” Laura says. “We’ll send the broker a renewal declaration that can be emailed to the client and completed electronically without the need for a signature.

“The team here was almost treating renewals like new business by asking the client for the same information again. But now that we appreciate that it is existing business and we know most of their details already, the broker can get the electronic form back to us in no time at all and we can give them renewal terms very quickly.” The new process launches for renewals due on 4 January.

Hiscox continues TV sponsorship campaign

A partnership with Channel 4 saw Hiscox return to advertising on television in May as the exclusive sponsor of ‘Intelligent Thinking on 4’ – a new strand of programmes linking together some of the greatest thinkers, leaders and artists. It is a mix of science, history and art programmes presented by some of the most credible names in TV.

Channel 4 demonstrates innovation, experimentation and creativity in the form and content of it’s programming. This intelligent and thoughtful approach is something we share at Hiscox. The theme of the sponsorship adverts is trust – which reflects our strapline, ‘As good as our word’.

The new sponsorship adverts launched with the ‘Genius of Britain’ series, which looked at some of the greatest moments in British science. This was followed by David Starkey concluding his epic story of the monarchy with a special programme looking at the history of the House of Windsor.

There will be further activity in the autumn alongside ‘The Genius of British Art’, an anthology of six films giving a new perspective on an aspect of British art history. This will be followed by a series on ‘The Universe’ presented by Stephen Hawking. A final programme, ‘Building the Titanic’, will explore the British working classes whose collective effort created what was then the most advanced man-made moving object in the world.

Hiscox wins “Best Stand Design” at BIBA

Hiscox won “Best Stand Design” for its category at BIBA 2010 at ExCeL London. The stand this year focused on the commercial scheme campaign. It displayed 18 different red objects all connected to existing commercial schemes or key Hiscox products.

All were displayed and labelled in an art gallery style.

Some items played with scale where there was a giant circuit board, marker pen and dentist’s mirror. Others had unexpected features such as the optician's eye test chart lighting up and the choir’s organ pipes playing church music.

The stand also had a balloon artist to grab the attention of brokers. He was a living exhibit himself, representing the balloon modellers scheme. Above the stand hung three giant versions of the origami fish that represented the angling association scheme. The competition was also linked to this theme and had Loch Fyne vouchers as the prize.

Marion Chan, Broker Marketing Executive, said: “Our 2010 stand had a completely different look to what we’ve done before at BIBA. It was great for addressing the curiosity of our broker visitors.”

“A different kind of animal” campaign

To continue the success of the 2009 Rocket campaign Hiscox launched the “A different kind of animal” campaign in May to remind brokers of our commercial scheme services and create awareness of the dedicated schemes team.

The 2010 campaign additionally aimed to encourage brokers to consider switching their schemes over to Hiscox.

Unusually for a Hiscox broker marketing campaign this one had to address non-Hiscox brokers as well as Hiscox ones. Advertising in the Insurance Times, linking to their website and using the stand at BIBA would help with the messaging to this audience. The campaign also included a supporting schemes leaflet that would form part of a pack for the local offices to take on scheme meetings.

The campaign continued the quirkiness of the 2009 campaign. The images used were of a balloon dog, an origami fish and a wooden model ant – all in the Hiscox red. These were used in quarter page teaser ads in the Insurance Times before the reader turned to a full page ad with information about schemes.

The dog, fish and ant all featured in other elements of the campaign, taking pride of place at the BIBA stand (more here).

The commercial schemes leaflet featured the campaign look, too. It covered how we can help in terms of underwriting, processes, marketing support and claims. It also included testimonials from brokers that have set up commercial schemes with us.

Karen Hopson, Broker Marketing Manager, said: “The campaign managed to integrate the many diverse schemes in an intriguing way while still retaining the look and feel of the Hiscox brand and the wit of the previous commercial scheme campaign.”

Three’s a charm

Hiscox has triumphed again in the Insurance Times Awards by being named Commercial Lines Insurer of the Year for the third consecutive year.

John Heaney, Hiscox’s Head of Professions and Specialty Commercial Division, says: “We are absolutely delighted to win this award for the third year running – especially as it is voted for by brokers.

“It is great to know that brokers appreciate the efforts of our underwriters throughout the UK. We will continue to work with brokers to find new ways of improving our service.”

This year, Hiscox will be implementing several new projects that will help to tighten the relationship between its underwriters and brokers. The first is an IT system that allows underwriters to view any outstanding issues with brokers, meaning everything can be dealt with in one phone call rather than several different ones.

“We’ll keep looking for new ways for brokers to benefit,” adds John.

Sparkling insurance cover for rings

Getting married is an exciting time for couples, but what happens if a treasured engagement or wedding ring is lost or damaged? Much heartache could be avoided by making sure that these items are insured properly.

In the UK, the average amount that professional couples spend on engagement and wedding rings is £2,600, and one in ten admit to spending more than £5,000, according to research by Hiscox. Despite this investment, more than a quarter of couples said that they have not even considered insuring their rings.

“For those who have popped the question, insurance is unlikely to be a top priority,” says Hiscox Development Underwriter Simon Goddard. “But the value of engagement and wedding rings is often substantial, so once they’ve got the answer they were hoping for, it is time to look at their home insurance policy to make sure they’ve got adequate cover for loss and damage.”

Simon adds that couples should also think about how the price fluctuations in the platinum and gold markets could affect the ring’s value. “Many rings are likely to increase in value, which highlights the importance of having regular valuations to ensure couples are not underinsured or at risk if they need to make a claim,” he says.

How Hiscox protects valuables

New items are covered by the 606 home insurance policy up to 25% of the amount already insured – your client must inform Hiscox about the purchase within 60 days and pay the appropriate premium

A total of £5,000 of valuables are covered under the ‘contents’ section. Higher amounts should be insured under the ‘valuables’ section, either specified or unspecified
Items, pairs and sets of valuables worth more than £15,000 must be specified individually
If your client had a professional valuation in the past three years, the items are insured on an increased value basis

Empty event? No problem

The arctic weather that gripped the UK this winter has gone on record as being the coldest for decades. Thanks to the amount of snow that fell – and the disruption it caused – it will remain in people’s minds for a long time.

For some customers, it caused even more headaches as blocked roads, cancelled trains and icy venue car parks wreaked havoc on their carefully planned events, resulting in empty exhibition halls and closed conference centres. The Hiscox events insurance team is now encouraging event organisers to buy cover early – as soon as they sign a contract with a venue and start making payments.

Martin Linfield, Underwriting Manager, Event Insurance, says: “Event organisers should buy their insurance early so they get the best terms and the widest cover. You may not get cover for adverse weather conditions, for example, if forecasters are already predicting it.”

Hiscox’s conference and exhibition event insurance policy is designed with these types of organisers in mind. It offers wide coverage and protection to policyholders, demonstrating Hiscox’s understanding of what they need to keep their event going ahead – such as the provision of emergency funds. Under the cancellation section, there is a choice of including various additional covers, such as reduced attendance, terrorism threat and venue requisition.

Martin says: “Some customers may scrimp on insurance to try to save money in the current financial environment. This is a false economy; if their event is cancelled, they stand to lose thousands of pounds if they are not insured.

“Hiscox is a market leader in event insurance – our job doesn’t stop when a customer pays the premium. We monitor any circumstances that may affect their event and offer what help we can.”

This was demonstrated by Hiscox’s efforts when the snow was forecast. The events team phoned organisers to see if specialist claims consultants and risk managers could offer guidance. As a result, some events that faced cancellation without this assistance still went ahead.

“By working with organisers and their brokers, we can help keep events going if the worst happens, such as a strike, a major road closure or a terrorist attack,” Martin adds. “The key is being on the front foot and knowing about a problem as far in advance of the event as possible.”

Hiscox hits top spot

Hiscox has leapt to the number one spot in an Insurance Times survey to find the insurer that provides the best service to brokers.

The Broker Service Survey 2009 asked brokers to rate insurers on criteria including quality of cover and speed and fairness of claims handling. Hiscox claimed the top spot for commercial lines insurers, with an overall satisfaction score of 84% – an improvement of 4% on last year’s performance.

One respondent said: “Hiscox has a can-do attitude on underwriting and claims.”A further commented: “They do not quibble on claims and they act always in the client’s best interests.”

The brokers surveyed came from a cross-section of the market, in terms of location, size of firm and job title. They were only asked to rate those aspects of the service of which they had direct knowledge.

Brokers were asked to judge insurers on five categories: the speed of access to decision makers; underwriting expertise; quality of cover; speed, accuracy and clarity of documentation; and speed and fairness of claims handling. Hiscox came first for claims handling and joint first in underwriting expertise.

The height of fashion

Image-conscious fashionistas are defying the recession and continuing to splash out on the latest trends and designer labels – but some may be underinsured for their valuable wardrobes.

Hiscox research reveals that the average British adult spends almost £1,000 a year on new clothes and accessories. However, budding fashionistas striving to look like David Beckham or one of the ladies from Sex and the City admit to spending as much as £400 every month on new outfits. The recession hasn’t had an impact on more than half of those surveyed, with 56% saying they are spending the same as they normally would and 4% spending more.

When it comes to putting a price on the value of their wardrobe, however, some are not so sure. Women estimate that they own £3,000 worth of clothing and accessories, while men put the figure nearer £2,500. But Hiscox has discovered that many people grossly underestimate the true value of their wardrobe.

Hiscox household insurance expert Austyn Tusler says: “The British are dedicated followers of fashion, but many don’t have a grasp of the value of the clothing and accessories they have accumulated over the seasons.

“As a result, many people may be underinsured for their wardrobes. One female customer, for example, gave us an estimate of £3,000 to cover her wardrobe contents, but the total was actually more than £25,000 – more than eight times the value she had thought.”

Halting the hackers

About 80% of UK businesses are dependent upon their IT systems for day-to-day operations, according to the Government’s Information Security Breaches Survey 2008. The costs of even temporary damage to these systems can be severe. Hiscox Hacker Insurance gives companies peace of mind by covering a wide range of losses related to online risks.

Alan Thomas, Hiscox’s UK Head of Technology, Media and Telecoms, highlights three different types of online risk: malicious damage by hackers; the loss of sensitive data due to mistakes made by company employees; and viral attacks that result in systems malfunctioning.

Alan has detected a growing trend of malicious hacker activity in the UK, with 96% of businesses with more than 500 staff reporting an average of 400 security incidents each in 2008.

Any of these risks can have far-reaching consequences. “Firstly, the damage to the system will need repairing,” Alan points out. “Then the system will need investigating to find its weaknesses and prevent the problem from recurring. Finally, it may take time and money to re-establish the company’s reputation.”

Identifying the threats
Hiscox Hacker Insurance for Technology, Media and Telecoms clients can provide cover for all these situations. “The main part of the cover is for repairing damage to systems,” says Alan, “but Hiscox also pays for a security consultant to assess the company’s electronic security, for a forensic consultant to find out the hacker’s identity and for a public relations firm to repair any damage to the business’s reputation.”

As technology develops, so too do the risks associated with it – and Hiscox’s team of underwriters take a proactive approach to investigating and identifying the specific threats that companies face. As Alan points out: “The launch of Hiscox Hacker Insurance is proof of how Hiscox responds to technology risks as they evolve.”

Suite success

Hiscox’s new suite of A5 broker literature was launched recently, offering you an easy way to increase your profits without any additional cost. The flyers can be used by brokers with clients, either as part of a new business sale or renewal pack. By listing all the private clients and commercial products, they help to maximise any cross-sell opportunities across the whole of the business.

On the commercial side, the flyers include information on everything from professional indemnity (PI) to management liability. On the private clients side, they include home, motor and fine art insurance.

The commercial suite contains:

Business products brochure
PI for misc professions
PI for media consultants
PI for IT consultants
Office insurance
Management liability portfolio
Charities insurance portfolio/clubs and associations portfolio
Venue insurance
Medical malpractice/wellbeing
Event insurance

The private client suite contains:

Private client brochure
Home insurance
Motor insurance
Holiday home
Fine art insurance
Event insurance

You can view and download the full suite of A5 flyers on the broker centre website at http://www.hiscox.com/broker

The art of collecting

During times of financial turmoil, people tend to retreat to safer havens – and art collectors are no exception. Gone are the days when they would race to snap up new artists’ work for top prices. The mantra now seems to be ‘tried and tested’.

Elliot McDonald, Hiscox’s art curator, says that contemporary art is one of the main areas of the market in which there has been a drop-off in interest. “The race to buy the rising stars of the past five to ten years is over,” he says. “The key is to look for artists who will be around in another ten years’ time.”

It follows, then, that serious collectors with serious money are turning to the Old Masters and other well-regarded names. At a Sotheby’s sale in London in July, for example, a 1628 Van Dyck portrait sold for more than £2 million – about £500,000 more than the top estimate. This marks a change from recent years, when the trend was very much towards contemporary art and when the Old Masters, such as Van Dyck, were seen as unfashionable.

Elliot says that, these days, quality is king – which is typical of investors’ behaviour during recessions. “People are going for artists who have been well-regarded through thick and thin,” he says. “If you have a very good Andy Warhol, you will still get a very good price for it. But some modern pieces you would have got great money for three years ago, you won’t get much for now.”

This insider knowledge is part of what sets Hiscox’s specialist art insurance service apart. Robert Korzinek, Fine Art Underwriter, says that the product’s key selling point is Hiscox’s proximity to the art world. “We’re passionate about art,” he says. “We insure, collect, sponsor and promote it.”

The product’s breadth, flexibility and geographical reach are also attractive to collectors. “They can be covered from the moment the hammer comes down at auction or they walk out of the gallery with their purchase,” says Robert. “Plus, our contacts in the art world mean that we can deal with claims discreetly, sensitively and speedily.

For more information about Hiscox’s specialist art insurance service, contact your local underwriter.

White collar crime risk

Hiscox is warning businesses that rising unemployment could lead to an increase in white-collar extortion. Previous recessions and periods of economic instability have led to increases in extortion cases, particularly in sectors such as financial services.

While extortion can take a number of forms in the UK – occasionally involving physical threats to property or people – it is more likely to be targeted at a company’s product or service. A company reliant on its IT systems, such as a financial institution, might see a threat of a computer virus being introduced maliciously.

Well-educated, white collar workers with detailed knowledge of their ex-company’s IT and operating systems can occasionally turn to extortion as a way of taking revenge on a former employer and of making money.

Charlie Hanbury, Special Risks Underwriter at Hiscox, commented: “I would expect to see insurance claims from companies experiencing extortion go up by at least 25 per cent in the current downturn. Therefore, it is critical that organisations thoroughly examine and test their risk management procedures when it comes to dealing with incidents such as these.”

A matter of trust

The importance that members of the public place on trust has risen during the current economic crisis, according to a new poll commissioned by Hiscox.

Pollsters YouGov surveyed 2,000 people about their attitudes to trust, and 36 per cent of them revealed that the importance they place on people’s trustworthiness has increased in today’s financial climate.

Although 79 per cent of Britons say they value people who can keep their word, it seems they are not behaving that way themselves. The study showed that integrity and trustworthiness appear to be lacking in the workplace, with 44 per cent of those polled admitting to breaking their word in the office. Most common is the claim that work is being done when it hasn’t been started. Although we value trust, many people don’t actually trust each other, as 60 per cent expect those around them to break their word, with bosses expected to be the most likely (19 per cent) to do so.

Glenn Caton, Hiscox Sales and Marketing Director, said: “We are pleased the results show that honesty and integrity are highly prized commodities for businesses and individuals, yet understand that people are still wary, given the events of the past year.” Social psychologist Dr David Lewis, who worked on the study, added: “This study shows that trust is fundamental to economic life – the real challenge is bringing this back to strength in the UK.”

Where art meets life… and death

A unique work of art that documents the annual number of deaths worldwide has provoked significant public and media interest since going on show at Hiscox’s London headquarters.

Death Counter, by Spanish artist Santiago Sierra, is a giant LED display designed to serve as a fast-paced reminder of the transient nature of human life, recording deaths from all causes during its time on the facade of Hiscox’s HQ throughout 2009. The work has been loaned to Hiscox in exchange for an insurance policy of €150,000, payable in the event of Sierra’s death and valid for the duration of the exhibition. The policy means that Death Counter exists as more than an artwork – it is a binding contract between Hiscox and the artist.

The death count is based on a demographic projection taken from the US census, currently estimated at more than 55 million deaths a year, at a rate of nearly two per second. The life insurance value has been set in relation to the value of the artwork.

"It acts as a prompt to remind me that there are more important things going on in the world"

Like many pieces of modern art, Death Counter has provoked a variety of reactions, with visitors and Hiscox employees sharing their views with reception staff. One reported: “The majority of people who come in are intrigued, but when they find out what it’s all about, they leave without saying goodbye! But it’s certainly been a talking point.” While some have found the reference to death somewhat depressing, others have taken away a deeper message. “Like a lot of art, it makes you think, and that’s not a bad thing,” said one Hiscox employee. “It acts as a prompt to remind me that there are bigger things going on in the world,” said another viewer.

Robert Read, Group Fine Art Underwriter at Hiscox, said: “This is a challenging and thought-provoking piece that will make its mark on the city. Hiscox is in the business of valuing risk, so the relationships between the contract, value of life and unusual property are familiar topics. It portrays the complexity of commerce.”

Death Counter is the latest work to form part of Hiscox Art Projects, which aims to make exciting, contemporary collections and exhibitions more accessible to the community.