Following its highly successful Ignition™ training programme which seeks to reduce car insurance premiums for inexperienced drivers, Hibernian Insurance today announced several new initiatives to tackle the cost of another insurance bugbear; small business insurance.
Following its highly successful Ignition™ training programme which seeks to reduce car insurance premiums for inexperienced drivers, Hibernian Insurance today announced several new initiatives to tackle the cost of another insurance bugbear; small business insurance.
Speaking at the Small Firms Association (SFA) annual conference in Dublin today, Gary Owens, managing director of Hibernian, told a small business audience that: "The price of insuring risk has increased significantly in recent years and I understand the strain that this has put on all business, especially small business… we need to work together to reduce the overall costs."
He continued by saying: "Hibernian recognises that insurance premiums must come down, and it is certainly not in our interests that customers are continuously paying higher premiums, we have been working together with the SFA to put together a package that reduces small business insurance risk and thereby reduces insurance costs."
Hibernian’s new price cutting strategy is based on a newly developed software package, which will allow companies to assess their individual business risks in a proactive way.
"It is a means for small business owners, who frankly have more to be doing than poring over the minutiae of health and safety legislation, to ensure that their business is up to scratch. Our system is web-based, user friendly and absolutely non-technical. It provides guidance on all aspects of health and safety, fire management, risk assessment, training and incidence recording and ensures a business is compliant with all its legal obligations," said Gary Owens.
The system will also provide a valuable benchmarking system that will enable a business to see where it stands in relation to its peers in the same industry sector. And should there ever be any confusion a trained team of Hibernian advisers will be at the end of an 1850 phone line ready to help.
The software is available free to all Hibernian business customers, and any company that agrees to use it is entitled to an automatic 10% reduction in their premium. Further discounts are also potentially available for companies that are seen to manage risks proactively.
Gary Owens also outlined several other Hibernian initiatives to tackle the small business insurance issue, including a commitment to involve all customers more fully in the settlement process of their claims, to establish an in-house specialist fraud detection unit to hunt down bogus claimants and most importantly to facilitate the operation of a small business forum, in conjunction with the SFA, to track progress of all actions agreed.
He concluded: "I am committed personally to ensuring that Hibernian works incessantly to provide value for money to our small business customers."
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Press contact:
Kela O’Riordan, 01 617 8164, 086 606 8842,
e-mail: kela.oriordan@hibernian.ie
Notes to editors:
- Hibernian is part of the Aviva plc, the seventh largest insurance group globally (based on gross worldwide premia)
- Hibernian is Ireland’s largest composite insurer, ranked first for general insurance and top five for life and pensions
- A photograph is available by ISDN
- Hibernian news releases are also available on www.hibernian.ie