Q&A with Eamonn Maguire, ZPC Claims Manager
12/05/2022
How did you get into the insurance sector?
When I was studying a long time ago, I was working part-time hours for another insurer and when I finished my exams, I needed something permanent. Zurich were recruiting for a very similar role at the time, and I joined the summer of 2008 as a motor claims handler. Zurich hired me even before I had my exam results, so definitely took a bit of a punt on me! Since then, I’ve never looked back.
With the support of so many at Zurich, I have really developed in my career. I’ve had the privilege of working in roles from fraud investigation to Casualty and onto my first leadership role as Team Manager of our UK First Response Centre. I took such valued learnings from those experiences when going in to lead our Commercial Property team, and most recently within our Claims team at Zurich Private Clients (ZPC). Working in such varied lines of business over my career have given me the foundation to take on my new role of Claims Manager for ZPC, and I can’t wait to see how it develops.
What makes your new role as Claims Manager within ZPC so unique?
At ZPC, although the policy coverage through all Line of Business is broad in nature, our High Net Worth offering is extremely nuanced. The demands and expectations within ZPC are very different to other areas I have worked in so, to meet these expectations, our claims specialists require to be multi-disciplined and work across a hybrid portfolio from motor to travel, property to casualty, to ensure a seamless customer experience.
Some of our clients may come from varied backgrounds. Some may come from inherited wealth, others may be highly successful in business. Some may be prominent public figures in the world of music and sport, others in politics, television and so on. The expectations, and needs, of one client can be very different to the next, so it’s imperative that we provide a bespoke, high level and tailored approach to each insured and each loss based on the individual circumstances of each. We intend to offer a claims experience that is custom made to the insured, their needs and requirements.
How does the claims experience within ZPC differ from other insurers?
I’ll leave it for others to judge where we stand vs other insurers, but I certainly aspire for ZPC to be the market leader in claims. The claims team with ZPC is unique in many was as is of the few areas that handles claims cross discipline. As it is a ‘hybrid’ team that covers all lines of business, our specialists have built strong, valued relationships with customers and brokers and have enjoyed an excellent reputation in the market for some years. Working alongside long-established broker partners has allowed us to truly understand and deliver what customers require of us, and the feedback we get is that we do a lot right and act quickly where we can improve.
The broad nature of our ZPC product also means that we are able to underwrite across lines, so if a customer has a fleet of vehicles with us, we have the capability and opportunity to cover other assets such as their homes, jewellery, art, travel, perhaps their yachts and properties abroad. Importantly, when a customer suffers a loss and needs us to act, our claims experts are on hand able to help and guide the insured through the process without the need for hand-off to other areas. They know that we are here for them in all ways we can be.
If I could use one word describe the team it would be ‘devoted’. Some of the team have been with us for 10+ years. They really enjoy what they do, and their enthusiasm is infectious. Their enjoyment, genuine and sincere care for what they do often translates into a fantastic experience for our customers and brokers. It’s all about relationships for us, and brokers and customers knowing they can pick up the phone at any time for our support.
What does a typical day look like for you and your team?
Many will know that we’ve recently gone through some change at ZPC owing to several well-deserved internal promotions. We’ve recruited some excellent candidates and I am really eager to start building the ZPC Claims offering with a rejuvenated set of customer-focussed experts and fantastic people.
It will be crucial for me to obtain, and sustain, a real understanding of the feedback we are getting now in the market, both internally and externally, of where we do well but also where we could look to learn, improve, and evolve. The industry and customer needs are constantly evolving and have put a big emphasis in the last few months on building long-term sustainability to ensure we have the knowledge and the right type of resource to adapt to these changes. Insurers will rightly be measured on how we respond to customer needs in the here and now, than past successes. ZPC are no different in that regard, so we know we have to get to work.
What changes are you seeing in the market that are affecting high net-worth claims and how are Zurich responding?
We have excellent relationships with our panel suppliers such as loss adjustors, legal firms, repair network and others, all of which has a huge level of insight across our own, and various other industries. One of the real drivers is the extent to which external factors are having a real influence, for example inflationary pressures on cost/availability of materials and shortages in the labour market. Each of these are having an impact on how we handle and settle claims, leading us to challenge ourselves in how to do things differently to minimise the impact on our customers, brokers and our business.
What do you love about working at Zurich?
Zurich not only puts the customer at the heart of its values, but importantly looks after its people by developing them professionally, and thereby nurturing a genuine culture for growth and success. The length of service of some of my colleagues is tremendous, but no surprise when you see and feel what Zurich offers. Since joining Zurich all those years ago, I’ve always been so impressed, and appreciative, of its real appetite for developing and progressing talent. It’s something I have experienced personally, so as a leader, naturally look to offer to my team and mentees the same support I’ve had throughout my team here.
Zurich is very quickly establishing itself as the insurer place to work, which in turn empowers us to look after our customers and become the insurer where they can place their trust. It really is a privilege to be here.
