Severe weather conditions drive up claim costs at Hastings

Hastings is on track to deliver its target calendar year loss ratio despite the Beast from the East and storm Emma hitting claim costs.

The insurance group reported higher claim costs than expected in Q1 2018, due to the snow and icy conditions that struck in February and March when the UK experienced significant back-to-back weather events in the Beast from the East and storm Emma.

Despite the rise in its claim costs, Hastings “remains confident of delivering a calendar year loss ratio just below or within the target range of 75-79%”.

Hastings continued its phased rollout of Guidewire, its next generation claims and broking platform, during Q1 2018. The platform now handles more than 500,000 policies and 95% of claims.

The insurance group also completed a digital total loss pilot to provide customers with a quick and easy online claims settlement journey with reduced settlement times, while also delivering internal efficiencies in claims handling processes.

Toby van der Meer, CEO Hastings Group, commented: “During the quarter we further enhanced our digital capabilities and continued the successful rollout of our new operational platform. We effectively traded through another competitive period for UK motor insurance, seeing good growth, in particular, in March and April. Our digital, data driven and agile business model leaves us well positioned to take advantage of continued consumer switching and growth of digital channels.”

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Mark Dugdale