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The families of four of the victims killed in Monday’s bloody hostage crisis in Manila will receive compensation totaling up to HK$1,320,000 (US$170,000) for each victim. The sum comprises a HK$300,000 payout from the insurer of the Hong Kong organised tour they had been travelling on, a HK$20,000 gratuity from the Hong Kong government, as well as an extra HK$1 million because the four had bought travel insurance from Chartis through the travel agency, Hong Thai, for the tour. The next of kin of the other four dead victims will receive up to HK$320,000 for each victim.

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.

Zurich Insurance says its loss of customer information was “unacceptable” The UK operation of Zurich Insurance has been fined £2.27m by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for losing personal details of 46,000 customers.

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.

Kuala Lumpur, 24 August 2010 — Chartis Malaysia Insurance Berhad, the property-casualty and general insurance provider, has announced the appointment of Matt Harris as Chief Executive Officer with effect from 3 August 2010. His appointment follows the promotion of former Chief Executive Officer, Rob Ryan, to Executive Vice President and Chief Administration Officer of Chartis Far East Holdings KK, in Japan.

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.

Here’s a very educational booklet by MSIDC on preventive measures you can take before boarding the plane.

Fit to Fly by Malaysian Society of Infectious Diseases & Chemotheraphy

Besides notifying your Insurer or the Agent immediately, here are some procedures that will help you in ensuring a faster and more efficient claim process.

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