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NEWSLETTER #116, FEBRUARY 2014

FROM THE INSTITUTE PRESIDENT, MICHAEL COOKE

Welcome to the first LA News for 2014. The year is shaping as a busy period and indeed in the past few weeks there has been a great deal of activity on AICLA matters.

Recently our Chief Executive Tony Libke and I attended and presented at members’ meetings in Melbourne and Sydney. Both events were successful with good attendance. In Melbourne a full day iAdjust seminar was held with approximately 55 attendees from across the claims industry. The seminar was based on the Trainee Loss Adjusters’ Workshop held in Sydney ahead of CC13 and the Victorian initiative proved that such activities can be held successfully at Division level. The Sydney event was a members’ twilight seminar with around 40 attendees. The events gave Tony and I the opportunity to outline to members AICLA activities being undertaken and those planned for the future. Congratulations to the committees in both States on well organised events.

While in Sydney we attended a meeting with Lisa Hoggard an education and training consultant who is assisting AICLA with developing CPD workshops for members. This is the second workshop and will cover ISR issues. Thankyou to the dedicated members from NSW, Rik Brown, Joanna Elias, Kevin McElhenny and Christine Boardman who are working with Lisa on this project.

Arrangements for the third Asian Claims Convention in Singapore on 2-4 April 2014 are in place and we have been receiving a steady flow of registrations. The programme is diverse with speakers from many countries. For those of you who may be considering the convention I highly recommend that you attend. The growing importance of Asia and the fact that this event brings together claims professional from a wide number of countries makes it an ideal opportunity for networking. For those who have not been to Singapore for a number of years there have been some most impressive changes. Please remember that the early bird registration deadline is the 28 February 2014.

Following the convention a series of meetings will be held in Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and Bangkok with members and other organisations important in our continuing operation and growth in Asia.

The Trainee Loss Adjusters’ Workshop will be held again in 2014 on Tuesday 12 August 2014 the day before the commencement of CC14. The venue in Sydney is yet to be determined and the event will build on the success of the 2013 workshop. The workshop is targeting young loss adjusters and those relatively new to the profession. It is also open to insurance company and broker claims staff. A comprehensive programme has been developed taking into account feedback from attendees at the 2013 workshop. We are currently confirming speakers and expect to release full details in the next month.

The Claims Convention will be held at the Sofitel Hotel Sydney on 13-14 August 2014. The days are Wednesday and Thursday and are a move away from the traditional Thursday, Friday arrangement. We feel this will give attendees from interstate and overseas the opportunity to meet with clients and colleagues, should they wish to do so, on the Friday. The committee is close to finalising the programme with some challenging and somewhat controversial topics on the agenda. This is very important event and I urge as many members as possible to plan to attend.

I am pleased to announce that the topic for the second Carey Bird Scholarship is “a heavy vehicle impact to a shop in a multi complex shopping centre”. This scholarship is a written submission and is open for entry to loss adjusters aged up to 40 and any member who is currently undertaking modules in the Diploma of Loss Adjusting. The scholarship is designed to allow a member to demonstrate, by way of a written report, their skills as a loss adjuster.

Later this week I will be attending the ICA Regulatory Update in Sydney which includes a session on the new ICA General Insurance Code of Practice. In the next LA News I will provide an update on the new code and its impact on loss adjusters.

Kind Regards,

Michael Cooke

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2-3-4 April 2014DOWNLOAD BROCHURE & REGISTRATION

A S I A N C L A I M S C O N V E N T I O N

The Claims Convention will be held in Sydney on 13-14 August

(Wed & Thurs) at the Sofitel Sydney.

The organising committee is well advanced with topics and speakers

for the event.

CC14

2-3-4 April 2014DOWNLOAD BROCHURE & REGISTRATION

A S I A N C L A I M S C O N V E N T I O N

Registrations for the Asian Claims Convention (ACC) in Singapore on

2-4 April are open. The programme will be headed by well

known UK loss adjuster and accomplished after dinner speaker Alan Cleary. Claim topics to be covered at

the event include engineering, marine, expert witnesses, negotiating skills, legal

issues, oil and gas losses…

EARLY BIRD DEADLINE

28 FEBRUARY 2014

NEW AND ELEVATED MEMBERSCongratulations to the following recently

admitted and elevated members:

NEW MEMBERSName Class Division

Timothy Koeppler Affiliate Victoria

Freddy Pangandjaja Affiliate International

Jaideep Kuntawala Provisional International

Putu Gede Artayasa Anak Agung Affiliate International

Benjamin Boshier Provisional Victoria

ELEVATIONS

Name Class Division

Timothy Christian Associate New South Wales

Tina Bayer Associate Queensland

Patipan Soodarram Fellow International

Troy Brettle Affiliate New South Wales

Samantha Moros Affiliate South Australia

Wayne Rutledge Affiliate New Zealand

Elouise Cave Affiliate Queensland

Christopher Martland Affiliate South Australia

Rachmat Mulyono Affiliate International

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VICTORIA

2013 Annual Gala Christmas Dinner

As noted in our last article in December, the Gala Dinner was a huge success with a record breaking 190 guests in attendance.

The feedback on the night was also as good and we look forward to next year’s event with the challenge now posed to make the event better than the last!!!

So we have already set a date aside being Monday 1 December 2014… so mark it in your diaries nice and early and we’ll have more updates throughout the year.

iAdjust 2014

As I am writing this article we are preparing for iAdjust 2014 (tomorrow, 19 February) which is set to be a great day with many very interesting topics at hand. By the time this article comes out we will have had the event---- so I look forward to giving you all an update on how it went in the next article.

NEW SOUTH WALES

Members Meeting - Thursday, 20 February 2014

Dasi Govender from MCS Group recently presented on "Regulatory Requirements - The National Construction Code (NCC) - What is it and what Loss Adjusters need to know."

Tony Libke - CEO and Secretary, and Michael Cooke - President of AICLA attended the meeting and spoke about AICLA.

Drinks and finger food was provided afterwards.

Regional ISR Workshop - Tamworth

Following on from the SME Workshop, the NSW - ACT Division Committee, in conjunction with the Regional offices of Cerno, Cunningham Lindsey and Crawford & Company, will host an ISR Workshop Seminar.

Venue - Best Western Sanctuary Inn, 293 Marius Street, Tamworth.

Date: Thursday, 3 April 2014. 1.00 - 4.30 p.m., followed by drinks and finger food.

The Committee encourages member and non member loss adjusters, insurers, brokers and agents to attend.

CPD points, AICLA and ANZIIF - 1 point per hour or 3 points per half day.

We have received some feedback from the night as follows;

“Lasts nights event was a wonderful success, you could not have expected any more from the way of food, service, venue or entertainment.” MC

“Thank you for a great evening. It was an honour to meet Mike… I had a great time”. JA

“The food, venue, and entertainment was all top notch….thanks”. RS

“Thank you for a most enjoyable evening….. this year”. PM

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INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT – VICTORIA

Ashish Sharma

Lumley Insurance, Claims Manager, Property Centre of Excellence

1. How long have you been there? 10 years in April

2. What lines of business does your company offer? Commercial Motor, Property, Liability & Engineering

3. Where did you grow up? Fiji

4. What did you want to be when you grew up? A Teacher – all my family members were teachers and I thought I would be too.

5. How did you get started in Insurance? Upon arriving from NZ to Melbourne, I met with a recruitment agency who wanted to put me forward for a Commercial Claims role. I wasn’t too keen on the idea, however she insisted and look where I am now.

6. Professionally what is your proudest moment? In Victorian 2009 Bushfires, I personally attended a few assessments with Loss Adjusters. This gave me a on the ground experience and appreciation of how brave people have to be to stay and fight the fire and defend their homes.

7. What are some of your greatest challenges in your business? Ensuring Policy Conditions are met as well as meeting client expectations.

8. Please can you think of someone within your business, other than someone in management that best exemplifies your best business practice and what make them stand out? Indeed, this consultant provides excellent customer service CONSISTENTLY – consistency is the key.

9. Do you have a mentor? Who is it? Why? Yes, Bob Richards of Cunningham Lindsey. I have had a very long standing relationship with Bob.

10. What do you never leave home without? My Myki

11. How do you relax? A nice cold Beer!

12. What is the one piece of advice you could give to new comers to the Industry? Be eager to learn. Be a sponge and absorb it all. Be patient in learning.

ON-LINE CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (CPD)

SOME IMPLICATIONS OF A FINANCIAL MELTDOWN

Back in 2008 we presented a short paper on the implications of a financial meltdown, topical at that time because we were in the midst of a severe financial crisis and a crisis of confidence. It seemed — in fact it was being widely reported — that the insurance industry was one that was suffering, owing to major capital loss in investments as well as diminished returns.

We focussed on the nuts and bolts effects on adjusters, largely induced by the sort of instructions that some were receiving, which seemed at the time more relevant to the financial strictures then present rather than the actuality of the claims. At the same time, claims were increasing. This is because at times of financial stress there are opportunistic claims and opportunistically exaggerated claims, as well as claims arising from the general stress in the workplace (and indeed at home) being felt by many members of the community.

It is true that this particular panic was behind us some time ago, but in our paper we alluded to the possibility of another such crisis occurring. Currently we have two major worrying tendencies that are worth considering. First, there is what some believe is an unjustified upward pressure on housing prices. Second, interest rates are absurdly low. The combination of these two is felt by some to herald a sub-prime type event, where large numbers of people have bought property far more expensive than they expected, stretching all personal resources to pay the historically low interest rates. If those rates were to change to say the rates commonly available in the 1980s (some as high as 17%!) there will be forced foreclosures, and this is the stuff that triggers a sub-prime type crisis.

Also, the historically low interest rates are impacting on insurers’ financial returns. The reaction must either be to raise premiums, reduce operating expenses or to put pressure on the claims side. Possibly all three...

If you have not already read this paper we invite you to do so at CPD021 and then to tackle the quick quiz.

Our on-line CPD facility is available on a 24/7 basis and papers may be read in any order. Access the facility via the hotlink below, or by navigating through ‘Professional Development’ on the AICLA website Home Page. Members should use the User Name cpduser and the password aiclacpd. Your browser may offer the opportunity to ‘Remember this password’.

We look forward to seeing you there! Go to on-line CPD now.

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AICLA offers members the opportunity to advertise positions vacant in LA News. The cost is 200.00 (+ GST) and the advertisement will be run for one month. The advertisements also

appear on the AICLA website www.aicla.org. If you wish to advertise, please send information to adminoffice@aicla.org. Advertisers can remain anonymous

with job applicants responding direct to AICLA.

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