A delegation from the Polish Insurance Guarantee Fund (IGF) visited London today to learn more about the UK insurance industry’s pioneering fraud detection techniques.
Welcomed by Phil Bird, director of the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB), the five-strong delegation from Warsaw met IFB officials to discuss fraud detection software, personal data protection and industry-coordinated counter fraud operations across the UK.
With a view to applying this knowledge back home, the Polish visit marks an increasing number of nations – including Japan, Canada, France and Spain – turning to the UK insurance industry for intelligence on counter-fraud procedures.
Phil Bird, Director of the IFB, said, “Insurance fraud is an international problem from which no country is immune. Fraudulent general insurance claims are estimated to cost the UK alone £2 billion a year – adding £50 to the annual costs of honest policyholders.
“Welcoming colleagues from around the world is testament to the sophistication of UK counter-fraud operations and the successful coordinated efforts of our insurance industry to disrupt organised insurance fraud – a crime which is so costly to honest policyholders.”
Wojciech Bijak, Director of the Polish Insurance Information Office, added, “Last year, the IGF launched a central motor insurance database in Poland, capturing 188 million records of policies, accidents and associated payouts.
“In 2012, by way of amended law, the IGF is now entitled to interrogate this database for the purpose of detecting insurance fraud.
“We visited the IFB today to consider and learn from the UK insurance industry’s valuable experience in fraud detection and disruption.”
