Monday, 20 February 2012
Greimel vows that DVS will raise its activities on innovation and service
The German risk managers’ association DVS says that the argument from insurers that they find innovation difficult in some areas because of the supposed danger of uncontrolled accumulation of risks is wrong.
Klaus Greimel, Head of DVS and Risk Manager of energy giant E.ON
“From my point of view, the accumulation argument is often just an excuse,” Klaus Greimel, Head of DVS and Risk Manager of energy giant E.ON told Commercial Risk Europe during the recent Euroforum liability conference in Hamburg, Germany.
“If we didn’t have earthquake cover already in place today, it would not be tackled now because of the argument that there is accumulation of risks,” he added.
Mr Greimel hopes that increased risk transparency in many companies will help to invalidate such arguments. “The accumulation argument will still play a role then, but it cannot be used across the board as is happening today,” he said.
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Mr Greimel demands better and more far-reaching insurance cover for contractual liability claims. “Today companies are more exposed to contractual liability claims,” he said. “The insurance industry should offer more solutions in this area.”
Usually, companies’ liability policies mirror the legal liability. But many companies are forced to accept liability exclusions or accept liability exposures that do not match the rules of legal liability.
A company that achieves an advantage over rivals by agreeing far-reaching liability clauses and generates an additional profit can also bear the consequences—for example when it cannot claim money from its business partner or has to pay for a claim that it is not obliged to pay by law, believes Mr Greimel.
“But more and more situations occur, where companies cannot avoid such contractual liability demands simply by discussing the issue,” he added. “They have to accept them. This is exactly the area where the insurance industry should be more flexible,” argued Mr Greimel.
Contractual liability is one hot topic for DVS in 2012, on which the association plans to become more outspoken with its policy.
“We want to focus more closely than before on some topics of general interest,” said Mr Greimel.
For this reason, DVS has appointed a second managing director in addition to Philipp Andreae. Rüdiger Auras, who used to work for Zurich Global Corporate Germany, joined DVS two weeks ago. “We can cover a wide range of topics now; Mr Andreae is an expert on liability topics and Mr Auras on property insurance,” said Mr Greimel.
Last year, when the problems with insurers’ Iranian clauses popped up, DVS was not able to carry out as much lobbying as it would have liked, regrets Mr Greimel. “Our employees were very busy with giving advice to members so that we did not have the capacity to tackle some topics like the Iran clause in depth,“ he said. “This year, we can be more relaxed.”
DVS also plans to organise more regional events. “We have to show more interest in the regions and establish closer contact to the members we otherwise only have on paper,” Mr Greimel said.
Besides the constant topic of contingent business interruptions, DVS also plans to discuss liability topics in greater detail with insurers, such as pure financial damage cover.
Mr Greimel is not happy with the international liability programmes that insurers currently offer.
He seeks, for example, more information about the commissions earned by the insurers that lead programmes. “I am surprised how often this special commission for lead insurers is agreed between the insurers involved in a programme without the client knowing anything about it,” he explained.
But such a detail is of major importance. “At the end of the day we have to decide if the lead insurer’s network is worth the price.”
A good network is extremely important for clients, since compliance departments insist on knowing the exact insurance requirements in foreign countries.
Mr Greimel fears that the number of insurers which can provide such a network will decrease. “I see the danger that it will result in only a few players, even fewer than today,” he said.
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