Daily briefing: Tuesday - Insurers get tough on fraudsters

Good news today, with the revelation that insurers have agreed to stump up £9m to fund an anti-fraud police squad.

Like it or not, insurance fraud is not a priority for police forces, which are facing rising crime and swingeing cuts. An industry-funded taskforce is a pragmatic solution that should pay for itself, and then some.

There have been other instances of the industry successfully funding police initiatives, such as the Plant and Agricultural National Intelligence Unit. Set up to fight plant theft, and backed by insurers including Allianz, Aviva and RSA, the unit recovered millions of pounds worth of stolen plant since starting work in October 2008.

Going further

Insurers could also help themselves by taking a more proactive approach to legal action against fraudsters.

Usually, those discovered attempting fraud are simply turned away and blacklisted by the insurer in question, leaving them free to try again elsewhere - and more importantly, sending a message that insurance fraud is somehow not really a crime.

Insurers argue that the lack of police support makes legal action difficult. This is one area where that new unit could really make a difference - and that would be £9m very well spent.

No more mister nice broker

More movement of teams, with today's revelation that Towergate has taken on two former Heath Lambert (now Heath Gallagher) employees.

Taking on teams is the latest trend among the big brokers, kickstarted by Gallagher itself, which has recently taken on a number of staff from rivals including Lonmar and Towergate.

As a new entrant to the UK retail market, Gallagher has the potential to change the rules of the game. Hitherto, there has been a sort of 'honour among thieves' informal arrangement between brokers about not taking one another's staff or, if they do, playing fair over covenants and clients. All it takes is one player abiding by different rules to blow that out of the water.