VERO BUILDS ON SOLID PROGRESS IN EARTHQUAKE RECOVERY PROGRAMME

2 December, 2014

“We have worked hard to deliver on our commitment to resolve claims and provide our customers with certainty after the earthquakes,” said Jimmy Higgins, Vero’s executive general manager, Earthquake Programme. “We have resolved and settled 86 per cent of all our residential claims compared to the industry’s 72 per cent. This includes more than 70 per cent of over cap claims now resolved and settled.”

Vero expects to resolve and settle more than 90 per cent of residential claims by June 2015.

“We have a large number of homes that are close to resolution. These include customers that have their contracts ready to sign and return to us and homes that are in the final stages of contract preparation or settlement. However, we are very aware that we still have some customers whose claims are yet to be resolved and we are working with them every day to bring them certainty.

“We currently resolve around 40 to 50 properties per month. The properties that remain are increasingly complex and challenging and we continue to work closely with those customers to ensure they understand the options available to them.

“Our multi-unit properties programme is well advanced. We started building the first two major multi-unit residential properties in Central Christchurch in October and have a number of large multi-unit properties close to contract stage,” said Higgins.

Our commercial reinstatement programme has begun to wind down and we expect it to be largely complete by June 2015, with 90 per cent of our total commercial claims paid out by then.

Vero’s Earthquake Programme is well positioned to be substantially complete by the end of 2015. “Earlier this year we brought our earthquake and business-as-usual claims operations together. We have kept our promise to our Cantabrian customers to resolve almost all residential claims by the end of this year and we’ve made great progress with our earthquake programme,” said Higgins.

Vero adopted a personalised case management approach to settle all claims very early in the programme. All Vero customers know their case manager and have regular contact with them. This approach avoids customer frustration and they don’t have to explain their unique circumstances to different claims handlers through a typical call centre approach.

“Vero was the first insurer to announce rebuild and repair timelines which we stuck to and did not change as the programme progressed.

“At Vero we are continually improving our service delivery and product offerings. We have undertaken an internal review of our performance and captured the lessons learnt so that we can improve our claims response to future disasters,” concluded Higgins.

Note to editors

Fast facts:

• Vero has paid out $3.9 billion or 80 per cent of total earthquake costs
• Our resolution rate is 40 to 50 properties per month
• We have paid out 94 per cent of our EQC-excluded claims
• We expect to pay out over 90 per cent of our commercial claims by June 2015
• We expect to resolve or settle 90 per cent of our residential claims by June 2015

​About Vero Insurance:

Vero Insurance has been the lead insurer in some of the largest commercial settlements in New Zealand, including:

• Lyttelton Ports Company $445 million
• Housing New Zealand $320 million
• Ministry of Education $200 million

Vero was named Most Valued Insurer by the Insurance Brokers Association of New Zealand in October this year.