Zurich Ireland has signed up technology-led defence firm BAE Systems to help fight insurance fraud – an issue said to be a problem in the region.
BAE Systems will provide its NetReveal solution to the insurer’s business unit in Ireland to help detect, prevent and reduce fraudulent claims, the companies announced.
The move is part of Zurich’s commitment to tackle the rising cost of fraudulent claims, which aims to help bring stability to the insurance market and benefit customers.
Insurance claims fraud is recognised as a “significant problem” in Ireland and is a key factor in the rapidly escalating cost of premiums, a release said.
Zurich Ireland’s chief claims officer, Jerry Fitzpatrick, said the insurer was committed to fighting insurance fraud, adding that the move with BAE would “further enhance our fraud detection capabilities using their extensive data science expertise, proven in other markets.”
Want the latest insurance industry news first? Sign up for our completely free newsletter service now.
Mark O’Neill, head of insurance in UK and Ireland at BAE Systems, told Insurance Business that NetReveal uncovers suspicious behaviours by resolving and risk-rating entities such as people, places, event, businesses and objects and the links that connects them.
“The solution fully exploits all the claims, policy and intelligence data within an insurer across all lines of business,” O’Neill said.
“With our combination of predictive and behavioural analytics, social network analysis, and machine learning that work together to uncover suspicious patterns, we can detect more fraud faster.”
O’Neill added that brokers too have a role to play in helping fight insurance fraud.
“Brokers are on the front line in the fight against fraudsters, so it’s really important that they have robust processes and systems to support risking at the point of sale to prevent fraudsters getting on cover in the first place,” he said.
“From a point of sale perspective, our experience shows that there is significant benefit in combining external data sources such as industry claims and intelligence data or credit bureau data (if applicable) with great analytics to inform the decisions that are being made.”
The NetReveal solution, which O’Neill said is already used by many UK insurers, will be implemented across all of Zurich Ireland’s major product lines.
The announcement follows seven years of collaboration between BAE Systems and Zurich Insurance, the release said.
Related stories:
Law firms, investigators join Insurance Fraud Bureau
Crash-for-cash gang sentenced to 42 years
