Chartis Vice President, Mr Wong Fu-tat, said at a press conference that as the incident was a special case, “the level of compensation for victims has been doubled from HK$500,000 to HK$1 million, under insurance covering accidents caused by public transport”. The insurer will also help with the cost of bringing the remains of the dead to Hong Kong.

Mr Wong adds that the injured stand to receive up to HK$1 million in medical insurance benefits. Chartis will also provide them with cover of up to HK$100,000 for six months of follow-up medical treatment in Hong Kong.

Separately, the Manila Bulletin newspaper reports that the victims of the hostage-taking crisis will receive insurance benefits from the Passenger Accident Management and Insurance (PAMI) Agency as the bus that carried the tourists is insured by the agency.

Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) officer-in-charge Assistant Secretary, Dante Lantin, said: “The families of the dead victims of the hostage are entitled to at least PHP60,000 (US$1,318) insurance claims each. As for the injured passengers, PAMI has committed to shoulder part of their hospital expenses,” he said. Apart from the eight Hong Kong tourists killed, the hostage-taker himself, former police officer Rolando Mendoza, was shot dead. At least seven others were injured in the incident.

It is the highest fine levied on a single firm for data security failings.

Margaret Cole, the FSA’s director of enforcement and financial crime, said: “Zurich UK let its customers down badly.”

Stephen Lewis, chief executive of Zurich UK, said: “This incident was unacceptable.”

The data on policyholders, including in some cases bank account and credit card information, went missing in August 2008.

However, Zurich did not become aware of the loss until a year later, when it then began notifying customers.

The information went missing during a routine transfer to a data storage centre in South Africa.

‘Oblivious’

The FSA said in a statement: “Zurich UK failed to take reasonable care to ensure it had effective systems and controls to manage the risks relating to the security of customer data resulting from the outsourcing arrangement.

“The firm also failed to ensure that it had effective systems and controls to prevent the lost data being used for financial crime.”

Margaret Cole added that Zurich “failed to oversee the outsourcing arrangement effectively and did not have full control over the data being processed by Zurich SA”.

“To make matters worse, Zurich UK was oblivious to the data loss incident until a year later.

“Firms across the financial sector would do well to look at the details of this case and learn from the mistakes that Zurich UK made,” she said.

Zurich said that it had no evidence the data had been misused. The firm said it had introduced new security measures, and had appointed a dedicated information security officer.

Mr Lewis said that the incident “served to remind us of the need to strive continually to improve the ways in which we seek to protect customers’ data”.

As Zurich agreed to settle at an early stage of the investigation the firm’s fine was reduced by 30%. Without this discount the fine would have been £3.25m.

Encryption

Experts said the size of the fine sends a signal that the authorities will crack down hard on data loss.

Rupert Casey, partner at Macfarlanes law firm, said companies and organisations had previously failed to take data loss seriously.

“That stemmed from the fact that data protection law never had any bite to it. That has all changed.

“What this fine should do is drive the issue up the agenda,” he said.

Better encryption of data, password protection, and measures to ensure large files cannot be downloaded to devices like memory sticks must all be improved, he said.

The FSA has previously fined HSBC, Nationwide and Norwich Union for data loss.

Prior to joining Chartis Malaysia, Mr Harris was Chief Executive Officer of Chartis New Zealand, where he led a large team and was responsible for designing and implementing a co-ordinated business strategy across multiple operating divisions and support functions.

Mr Harris has more than 20 years experience in general insurance during which time he has worked in various operational disciplines including underwriting, product, actuarial, reinsurance, claims and risk/governance functions. He gained this wide-ranging experience working for major insurers in Australia, New Zealand, India and the United Kingdom. He is a senior associate member of the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance.

Chartis Malaysia Insurance Berhad is a leading property-casualty and general insurance provider in the country. It has 15 offices nationwide, offering insurance services to businesses and consumers via a network of more than 3,000 professional agents, brokers and staff.

Chartis is a worldwide leader in property-casualty and general insurance. Chartis Companies employ more than 34,000 people worldwide and serve more than 40 million business and individual customers in 160 countries and jurisdictions on every continent. In 2009, Chartis companies wrote gross premiums of over US$40-billion worldwide and the company paid out an average of US$75 million worldwide in claims everyday.

Fit to Fly by Malaysian Society of Infectious Diseases & Chemotheraphy

In general, most Insurers would require you to furnish the following critical documents before any claims can be processed:

1) Fully completed Travel Claim form (incomplete form may cause delay in processing)
2) Original Insurance Certificate & Proposal Form
3) Original used air ticket & boarding pass

So, it’s always to your advantage to keep all your insurance documents filed and organized.

For each type of claims, preparing the following supporting documents will help a lot in the claim process. However, each Insurer will have a different set of requirements, so it’s best that you adhere strictly to their request to avoid any delays.

Medical Expenses
a) Original Medical Bills/Invoices
b) Original Payment Receipt issued by the clinic/hospital
c) Original Medical Report/Diagnosis note duly certified by the attending Physician

Flight Delay
a) Letter from airline confirming the delay duration (in number of hours), actual departure time and reason for the delay.

Flight Misconnection
a) Letter from airline confirming the actual time of arrival at the airport of the transit point and actual departure time of the connecting flight.
b) Original receipts for hotel accommodation, restaurant meals or refreshment.

Baggage Delay
a) Property Irregularity Report
b) Letter from airline confirming the delay duration (in number of hours), the reason for the delay and their offer of compensation.
c) Original receipts for emergency purchases of essential clothing & toiletries during the delay duration.

Baggage Loss
a) Property Irregularity Report
b) Letter from airline confirming the loss and their offer of compensation
c) Original receipts for items claimed

Baggage Damage
a) Property Irregularity Report
b) Letter from airline confirming the damage and their offer of compensation
c) Photographs depicting the damage
d) Original quotation or receipt for repair
e) Original purchase receipt of the damaged luggage

Trip Cancellation & Trip Curtailment
a) Original invoice and payment receipts confirming the full amount paid
b) Tour Fare breakdown charges & travel itinerary
c) Letter from Travel agent confirming the refund amount. If nil refund, to state reason
d) If the cause of cancellation/curtailment is due to medical condition of an immediate family member, to provide Proof of relationship, e.g. birth certificate or marriage certificates. If due to death, also enclose the Death Certificate.
e) Medical Report and to provide details of all normal attending physicians.

Loss of Travel Document
a) Original receipts for additional hotel accommodation, land transportation cost & communication expenses
b) Original police report & official translated copy of the report, if report is not in English
c) Insured’s account on the exact description of the incident
d) Loss of Money
e) Original Police report obtained at the place of loss
f) Official translated police report, if report is not in English.
g) Insured’s account on the exact description of the incident

From next year, the limit of bank deposits insured by Malaysia Deposit Insurance (PIDM) will be raised to RM250,000 per depositor per member bank from RM60,000 now.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak also announced yesterday a plan to introduce an explicit insurance compensation scheme (ICS) for insurance and takaful policyholders.

According to the Finance Ministry, it is the Prime Minister’s intention to implement a package of legislative initiatives aimed at enhancing financial consumer protection for Malaysians.

“The plan is for this package to be tabled in Parliament for debate and enactment before year-end,” the Finance Ministry said.

With the ICS, policyholders of insurance and takaful products will also enjoy a similar level of consumer protection provided by PIDM for depositors in the commercial and Islamic banks.

Since the temporary government deposit guarantee would lapse as scheduled at the end of this year, the enhanced protection package would continue to provide increased protection to depositors.

“With this new limit, 99 per cent of depositors will be protected in full,” the ministry said.

Chief executive officer of PIDM Jean Pierre Sabourin said at a media briefing in Kuala Lumpur said the RM250,000 limit was proposed based on a survey of member banks and took into consideration the expected growing wealth of Malaysians in the years ahead.

He said PIDM will be issuing the new deposit insurance information regulations to be effective in January 2011.

“The purpose of the regulations is to ensure depositors receive accurate, relevant and timely information on deposit insurance, limits and coverage,” he said.

On the ICS, Sabourin said the scheme is to protect policyholders from the loss of their policy claims or insured benefits in the unlikely event of a failure of an insurance or takaful company.

He said the establishment of the ICS was timely since the insurance has an important economic role.

Like in the Deposit Insurance System, PIDM will also collect annual levies or premiums from member insurance companies but it may also borrow or raise funds from the capital markets.

Southeast Asia’s third largest economy, which relies heavily on exports, is tentatively emerging from the global downturn as global trade picks up.

But Walter Culas, chairman of the airfreight forwarders association of Malaysia, told AFP that with the ash cloud forcing the closure of European airspace for almost a week hundreds of tonnes of cargo are not being delivered.

“As of today about 400 tonnes of cargo are stranded at the airport. The volcanic ash has paralysed valuable cargo movement to Europe from Malaysia,” he said. “The total losses could snowball to billions of ringgit,” Culas said.
He added that a sizeable portion of the cargo holed up were electrical and electronics products, which as a sector contributes significantly to the economy in terms of export earnings, manufacturing output and employment.

“The stranded cargo will hurt the Malaysian economy which is coming out of a recession. We just came out of a steep hill and run into a ditch,” he said.

Mukhriz Mahathir, deputy minister of international trade and industry said the government would try to find a quick solution to resolve the backlog cargo.

Culas described the shutdown across Europe as “my worst logistic nightmare in my 39-year career as a haulier”. “Most of the logistics hubbing for global trade are based in Europe — London, Paris, Frankfrut and Amsterdam. The airtraffic shutdown has crippled the logistics industry,” he said.

He hit out at Malaysia Airlines Cargo (MASkargo), the air cargo subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines, for a lack of leadership in dealing the crisis.

“MASkargo, the terminal operator which handles cargo to Europe has not communicated with hauliers. The situation is worsening by day with no solution in sight. The terminal operator is not providing any leadership,” he said.

Culas said some urgent goods were transported to Singapore by road Tuesday before being flown to Lisbon — which has avoided the ash cloud — and then driven to their final destination.

However, Culas said it could take up to a month to clear the backlog of cargo. — AFP

Allianz Shield is devised to cover among others, medical expenses that include dengue, malaria or Japanese Encephalitis, bungee jumping, amateur sports (except martial arts and boxing), natural disasters, scuba diving (up to 50 metres deep), kidnap coverage, evacuation programme, snatch theft and more.

Via Business Times.

Last month, both Bank Negara Malaysia and the General Insurance Association of Malaysia (Piam) endorsed Insurance Services Malaysia’s automotive business intelligence system (ISM-ABI).

The ISM-ABI is the only approved system for vehicle valuation among financial services companies in Malaysia.

“The introduction of the new system for motor insurance is in line with practices in other developed markets,” said ISM chief executive officer Carl Rajendram in Petaling Jaya yesterday.

Rajendram said that most major motor insurers and takaful operators are in the process of adopting the new and more transparent system for motor insurance starting 2010.

“It is part of the modernisation of Malaysia’s motor insurance and takaful cover announced recently and will ultimately benefit the consumers, insurance and takaful companies,” Rajendram said.

“The entire automotive industry is moving towards greater competitiveness and efficiency and we are confident that the ISM-ABI will play a pivotal role in driving this objective among all stakeholders,” he explained.

With the new service from ISM, insurance and takaful companies now have the ability to generate renewal notices with the current year sum insured with the corresponding premium to be paid.

“The services increase transparency in the whole motor insurance process not only for purchasing insurance but also during claims,” Rajendram said.

With the new system from ISM, insurers and takaful operators may also choose to pre-determine the compensation upon theft and total loss claims by referencing the database.

“Consumers are also able to verify the vehicle’s market value themselves from the website and access the same information that insurers are accessing,” he said.

The new service will reduce uncertainty when insuring a vehicle and reduce dissatisfaction that consumers experience when making a claim.

Kurnia Insurans (Malaysia) Bhd managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) Captain K.H. Chia has resigned, after just 17 months on the job.

Chia told Business Times that he had tendered his resignation, which will be effective at the end of this month.

Kurnia Asia, which owns the country’s number one motor insurer, has not decided who will take over from Chia.

His departure followed the resignation of Datuk Adrian Loh from the board of Kurnia Asia Bhd which was announced on Bursa Malaysia’s website yesterday. Chia took over the post of Kurnia Insurans CEO from Loh on July 1 2008.

“My resignation is on my own accord. It’s a new year and I want to pursue my own aspirations,” he said. Chia hinted that his next move might be in the life insurance segment.

The 30-year veteran of the insurance industry started as a life insurance agent and was previously the CEO of Citic-Prudential in China.

A company insider said Chia had indicated that he wanted to move back to China.

“Chia had mentioned his intention to resign about two months ago. So it was no surprise that his decision to step down was made known to the senior management team on Monday,” the source told Business Times.

Chia was said to have made up his mind to join the Kurnia group after talking to Tan Sri Kua Sian Kooi, who is the chairman of both Kurnia Asia and Kurnia Insurans.

“Our relationship remains on good terms,” Chia said.

He was responsible for hauling Kurnia Insurans, which accounts for nearly 95 per cent of Kurnia Asia’s annual revenue, out of the red.

Under Chia’s leadership, Kurnia successfully launched the Transformation of Operations and Performance exercise in July 2007. The group has since turned around, with a net profit of RM57.1 million in the financial year ended June 30 2009 from a net loss of RM301.8 million in 2008.