Location: London

Cunningham Lindsey Announces Promotion of Ian Jones to Country Manager, Dubai

Cunningham Lindsey is pleased to announce the promotion of Ian Jones to Country Manager, Dubai. Ian is based in our Dubai office replacing David Summers, who has worked for Cunningham Lindsey there for over 20 years.

Ian Jones ACII FCILA FUEDI ELEA FIFAA, has over 30 years within the claims sector and has worked across many roles including Major & Complex Loss and Client Relationship Management. He is a multi-disciplined adjuster and has claims handling experience in Property and Business Interruption, Oil & Gas, High Net Worth and in the Hospitality sector.

Ian will be assuming the position from David Summers, who will be returning to the UK to join the MCL Global team in London, but will continue to have involvement on losses in the Middle East.

Woody Forbes, Regional Director Cunningham Lindsey Middle East said “We are pleased to announce the promotion of Ian Jones to Country Manager. Ian has extensive experience of the UAE market and has been an integral part of the development of our market leading operation there.”

David Pigot, CEO Cunningham Lindsey Middle East, London added, “I would like to congratulate Ian on his new position and to thank David for all his hard work in developing our business in Dubai and the wider region; I look forward to welcoming him back to London in the Autumn.”

The office has a strong and stable position in the market and has handled many high profile major losses and programs across UAE, we have a large team of 11 Adjusters, Engineers and Forensic Accountants, served by our offices in Abu Dhabi & Dubai.

Cunningham Lindsey UK Appoints Two Regional Directors

Cunningham Lindsey has announced the appointment of two UK Operations Directors; Stephen Kerr and Scott Cameron in the South and North of the UK respectively. Both appointments are effective immediately.

The move follows a recent internal restructure of the loss adjusting function, aimed at giving greater management oversight of UK operations. Scott Cameron replaces Kerr in the northern UK role, whilst the southern operations role is newly created, which Kerr moves to.

Stephen Kerr has been with Cunningham Lindsey for 22 years and has previously undertaken a number of senior management roles, and will be responsible for major loss, private client services and commercial adjusting products.

Scott Cameron has been with the global adjusters for over 10 years with a background in commercial and major loss but more recently he has headed up their Glasgow office. In his new role he will take responsibility for whole Northern UK Region and its operational performance.

Both will report to Neil Gibson, Cunningham Lindsey’s Loss Adjusting Services Director & Regional MCL Global Leader UK, who commented: “Both Stephen and Scott have a wealth of loss adjusting and managerial experience. The organisational restructure is aimed at enhancing both service delivery to clients and managerial oversight, as we continue to build on our strengths in the UK.”

Sarah Civil appointed UK Corporate Risks and Specialist Practice Groups Director

Cunningham Lindsey has announced the appointment of Sarah Civil to the role of UK Corporate Risks and Specialist Practice Groups Director. Civil will join the global loss adjusting and claims management firm on 1 September.

Civil, who has been operating as a senior independent consultant for the past 18 months, had previously lead rival Crawford’s Global Technical Services, the adjuster’s worldwide high-end adjusting business. She was responsible for adjusting teams in Property Major Loss, Marine and Transportation, Power, Energy, Construction, Engineering, International Casualty and Aviation, managing losses in the UK as well as on an international basis.

She brings significant adjusting experience and is well known throughout the London insurance market, having managed several international catastrophe event responses. Her new role will focus on Cunningham Lindsey’s Corporate Risks team and the continued development of Specialist Practice Groups in the UK.

Neil Gibson, Cunningham Lindsey’s Loss Adjusting Services Director & Regional MCL Global Leader UK added: “I am very pleased that Sarah has chosen to join us. She brings a wealth of experience and expertise and my colleagues and I are looking forward to working closely with her as we continue to grow this area of the business. It is an exciting development for our company.”

Stephen Foster appointed new UK Technical Director, Marine

Cunningham Lindsey has announced the appointment of Stephen Foster as Technical Director, Marine in the UK. Foster, who currently heads up the loss adjuster’s marine team in Indonesia, will be relocating to the UK to take up the role from 1 August.

Stephen has spent 21 years working overseas in both Indonesia and Singapore and has extensive knowledge of the marine insurance market in the UK and Asia Pacific regions, having been involved in overseeing the development of the firm’s marine operations in Asia Pacific. His primary role in the UK will be handling major and complex marine cargo losses.

Neil Gibson, Cunningham Lindsey’s Loss Adjusting Services Director, said: “Stephen’s wealth of experience in handling major and complex marine cargo loss will enhance the capability of the UK team significantly. Being able to bring in a person of Stephen’s caliber, underlines our commitment to clients, and further improve our service delivery to them.”

Cunningham Lindsey’s marine surveying and adjusting operations in Indonesia will also remain under Foster’s tenure. He replaces Ray Saunders in the UK, who is retiring at the end of this year.

Cunningham Lindsey Responds to the Petya Ransomware Pandemic

On the afternoon of June 27, 2017 reports of ransomware called Petya have impacted several territories. We are aware that hospitals, airports, banks and infrastructure have been affected in locations from Europe to the Ukraine.

The Cunningham Lindsey global cyber team with centres in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, US, Canada, South America and Asia are ready to assist.

We have experience in handling ransomware and are fully versed with the issues that a business can face when its data is encrypted (locked). Last month we handled claims as a result of the Wannacry cyber-attack for several clients and organizations. We can provide advice and guidance based on historic experience of dealing with malware and ransomware incidents.

One tip for managing the potential impact. If you have any computers that are infected with Petya and your machine has crashed / powered off. DO NOT POWER UP. Use a LiveCD or external machine to recover files. Our Cyber team has been able to ascertain that as long as you do not go past the CHKDSK message, your files are safe and you can recover them using a LiveCD.

Computers affected by Petya now have the added headache that the author’s email account has now been frozen, meaning that paying a ransom is no longer an option as they can’t provide decryption keys.

Cunningham Lindsey Response

We have the largest global team of cyber experts of any adjusting company in the world, dealing with cyber incidents. Our Technology and Cyber Adjusters are supported by Legal, Forensic ICT and FAS Global, our team of forensic accountants who specialise in the quantification of business interruption and financial losses following cyber events.

Right people, Right place, Right time

Our Technology Group ensures that you get access to the very best of our technical skills, industry specific knowledge and best practices to respond to losses of significant size and complexity. We know that managing cyber incidents requires a combination of the right skill sets within the supporting team to deliver a consistent and effective response.

You can be assured of the highest quality of service with our Technology Group. We have developed a set of standards and selection criteria to achieve this, with every member of the team meeting a minimum set of qualifying criteria.

With the support of our Technology Group, you can have total confidence that your cyber incidents will receive the utmost attention and technical expertise from the right people – no matter where the loss occurs around the world.

Should you require assistance please contact Dr Mark Hawksworth, Global Technology Specialist Practice Group Leader.

 

Cunningham Lindsey 2017 Major and Complex Loss Review

The Cunningham Lindsey 2017 Major and Complex Loss Review is now available. It provides a snapshot of some of the most interesting and challenging major losses we have dealt with globally over the last 12 months. The review presents many examples where increasingly complex losses have led to new and innovative ways our loss adjusters are having to evaluate and manage claims.

The review highlights the depth of our experience, our collective breadth of knowledge and the support of our global network – all of which are deployed to deliver the customer focused and exceptional service needed to help our clients’ customers get their lives and businesses back on track.

Please read: The Cunningham Lindsey 2017 Major and Complex Loss Review

Andy King joins Cunningham Lindsey as new UK Head of Forensic Advisory Services

Cunningham Lindsey is pleased to announce the appointment of a new UK Head of Forensic Advisory Services (FAS Global).

Andy King will join as Head of FAS Global in the UK on 3 July from Aon, where he was Head of Specialty Claims in the Middle East. King has over 30 years experience as a chartered accountant and chartered loss adjuster and has also worked in senior claims management roles at Crawford, PwC and Marsh.

Neil Gibson, Cunningham Lindsey’s Loss Adjusting Services Director, said: “I am pleased to welcome Andy to FAS Global. He brings with him a wealth of experience which will prove invaluable as we continue to grow over the coming years.”

King replaces Matt Griffin who led the firm’s accounting division since its inception and will remain with Cunningham Lindsey, returning to his native Australia.

Established in 2014 by Cunningham Lindsey, FAS Global has grown significantly over the last three years, providing insurers with a forensic accounting service combined with independent financial analysis in financial investigation, litigation and valuation.

Driest 6 months in 20 years increases subsidence risk concerns

For the UK as a whole, the last six months have been the driest in 20 years and it was the warmest month of March ever in the southeast.  This is reflected in Met Office Rainfall and Evaporation Calculation System (MORECS) data, which measures soil moisture content, where currently – even after last week’s spell of wet weather – the conditions are very similar to those recorded in previous subsidence event years – specifically 1997, 2005 and 2006.

These very dry ground conditions at the start of the year are a clear indication that we could see an increase in subsidence claims in the months ahead, particularly if we have a dry summer.  Early* predictions from The Met Office is that high pressure is likely to dominate the UK in early June, which would bring largely warmer, drier weather for most, but it’s the rainfall and temperatures in July, August and September that will be critical.

Kevin Williams, Head of Subsidence, Cunningham Lindsey, said:  “Looking at previous subsidence event years, a dry winter and spring has consistently been the key factor, as the weather patterns that followed were invariably mixed.

“Basically, if it continues to be warm and dry into the summer, then it won’t be long before we begin to see an upturn in subsidence claims.  If it turns cold and wet – all bets are off.  At this moment in time, subsidence claim numbers could go either way, but we have a robust plan in place to cope with any potential increase and we’ll continue to monitor the weather forecasts carefully over the coming months.”

WannaCry II

The Cunningham Lindsey Cyber team has been busy resolving Ransomware isssues for some time. I have previously raised the issue in articles and presentations that Ransomware can cause real problems for users when their data is locked and becomes inaccessible.

The WannaCry attack is unprecedented because the Ransomware was combined with a worm that allowed the infection to spread rapidly between computers. Although damaging, the impact was stopped prematurely by a British blogger who registered a domain cited within the Ransomware – read the story here.

The criminals won’t make the same mistake next time. A second variant could be coded quickly for re-issue. Once patched (Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and Windows XP) operating systems will no longer be vulnerable. Going forward new vulnerabilities will most likely be used to launch a second wave with obvious consequences.

It is imperative that business and organisations makes sure that software patches are up to date and that they are using licenced antivirus protection. “Off-network” backups should be taken and held remote from the network.

In the event of a second attack, these backups could be used to rebuild networks should the worst happen, mitigating the impact of the malware.

Ask the Doctor – Free 1:1 business interruption clinic at the BIBA conference

Book your free 1:1 business interruption clinic with our FAS global senior manager and forensic accountant Nick Longson. Nick will be on our stand, B48, at the BIBA conference and exhibition on Thursday 11 May.

Establishing an accurate gross profit sum insured is essential to the correct operating of a client’s cover. Miscalculating gross profit has increasingly led to brokers facing costly negligence claims with market reputational issues.

  • Do you want to better identify factors to consider in calculating gross profit and, in turn better identify where prospects have a defective gross profit sum?
  • Are you seeking clarity on the extent of cover and maximum indemnity period you need to cover the longterm consequences of damage eg the loss of a major client?
  • Do you want to improve your understanding of the spectrum of ancillary risks for which your clients can obtain extensions under their policy?

If you answered ‘yes’ to one or more of the above questions OR you want an expert sounding board for a problem claim you can outline then you need to book your free 1:1 business interruption surgery with our FAS Global senior manager and forensic accountant, Nick Longson.

Please contact Nathalie Crystal to book your slot. All slots will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

Nathalie Crystal – 07788 386504 or [email protected]

Click here for full details.