A Leader’s Perspective – Ian Carman, Sedgwick International UK

I have recently interviewed several leading figureheads across the Insurance sector to discuss their views on the current market.

Today’s interview is with Ian Carman – Director of Investigation Services at Sedgwick

Ian started his insurance career in 1997 with RSA and held a number of claims and counter fraud operational and leadership roles during his 20 years with the insurer.
Prior to joining Sedgwick in January 2021 he was Head of Property Claims with The Cotswold Group.
Ian is responsible for Sedgwick’s counter fraud strategy, technology and operational fraud response in the UK.

You initially started your career as a domestic claims handler how did your career progress to become the Director of Investigation Services at Sedgwick?

On the school notice board, I found an advertisement for a trainee domestic claims handler at the newly merged Royal & Sun Alliance business. I can’t quite recall what happened, but I obviously fell in love with claims! I remember at that early stage in my career being really motivated by two key things – helping people that had suffered a loss and catching out the bad guys.

The training RSA provided was exceptional. I recall being sat in a room for two solid weeks studying one single policy wording in detail! That sounds pretty dull, but those 2 weeks and the other months of training and investment were the solid foundations of my entire career. In early 2001, the RSA office I was working at was due to close and I transferred to an internal adjusting role. I covered East London which was a baptism of fire in so many respects but what I took from that experience was the critical importance of communication skills. During my short time adjusting, I developed a flair for fraud and built a great relationship with our local in-house fraud investigator, an ex-Metropolitan police detective. After a few joint successes, he convinced me that I had what it took to be a fraud investigator and I moved into a field investigator role aged 22. Tony was my mentor and gave me so much in terms of approach, people skills and technical know-how.

After a solid 10 years of trying to perfect my investigation craft, I went through the ranks of RSA’s counter-fraud unit before moving to The Cotswold Group to head up their Property Fraud function in 2017. The experience I gained there was invaluable in managing client relationships, the commercial aspects of running a vendor business and the importance of product development, creativity, and entrepreneurial thinking. It was a very different business to RSA but, again, taught me so much. Late in 2020, I was approached by Right International to lead Sedgwick’s Investigation Services business in the UK.

With so many opportunities available to individuals just starting their career, what advice would you give to someone looking for a career within the Insurance/claims sector?

Insurance can be very interesting! Find your motivator and a role that matches it.
Choose a business that has a proven record when it comes to learning, development and career progression. I’ve been incredibly lucky to have been fully supported by three great businesses in my 25-year career.
Find yourself a good mentor. Spend as much time as you can with them. Listen to them and watch carefully how they operate.
Never turn down an opportunity even if it means working outside of your comfort zone.
When you reach a leadership position, ensure that your leadership mission is to serve your team.
Always talk with passion and pride about your subject matter.
Work and lead with absolute integrity.
Surround yourself with the best people. Never be afraid of recruiting people that may know more than you do.
Believe in yourself and do away with any form of self-doubt. That next job ISN’T too big for you.
Whenever you can, give back.

In a recent webinar, you discussed advancements in fraud prevention technology, in your opinion which technology has had the greatest impact?

In the last 10 years or so the industry has seen data-sharing initiatives led by the newly formed Insurance Fraud Bureau, groundbreaking data entity matching technology and voice risk analysis software to name but a few. More recently, that’s accelerated further still with the advent of voice to text analytics, artificial intelligence-based counter-fraud systems and sophisticated straight-through processing platforms. Without a doubt, technology that has the ability to identify and even predict fraud has been the most powerful and impactful innovation. Tackling organised motor fraud, for example, in the way that the industry has in recent years would have been significantly more difficult without technology and data sharing facilities.

How did Covid impact the type of fraudulent activity?

We witnessed a short-lived spike in lower value exaggerated claims. Homeowners living under lockdown regimes were spending money and time on DIY activities and we certainly saw an uplift in fraudulent paint spillage claims, DIY related accidents and even fires. Later on, in the pandemic and, again, in the domestic space, we saw a huge spike in fraud perpetrated by what I term as ‘need’ fraudsters. During periods of economic certainty, most low to medium value opportunistic insurance fraud arises because of greed or a desire to maintain a lifestyle. During late 2020 and into early 2021, we witnessed a shift in the typical perpetrator profile towards those that were genuinely struggling, particularly self-employed individuals and small business owners. Naturally, we had to ensure that those situations were handled sensitively and whilst recognizing that fraud is fundamentally a crime, we were often dealing with desperate individuals. It’s a common misperception that fraud investigators are cold, uncaring individuals and I’m privileged to lead teams that recognise the very real human motivations and impacts behind what they’re tasked with dealing with.

In the commercial space, we witnessed some diversion away from insurers and towards banks, and central and local government. Rather than attacking insurers, some of those business owners determined to commit fraud turned their attention to exploiting weak controls around business bounce back loans, grants, furloughs, and various other support schemes. This is a hot topic at the moment as the impact upon the treasury becomes more and more visible.

What have you introduced since joining Sedgwick that has improved the client and customer journey?

Let’s go back to my two big passions – catching the bad guy and helping people. Fraud detection and exceptional service go hand in hand. To provide great service, you must build a relationship and understand the detail of a situation. That’s exactly the same place that a fraud investigation journey starts too! My absolute focus over the past 16 months has been on building the most robust counter fraud controls to be found in the claims management space. Those controls must be almost entirely invisible to a genuine policyholder or claimant and must align, at all times, with our client’s own fraud risk appetite and ambitions.

Our counter-fraud strategy focuses on three key pillars – People, Technology and Insight. Each pillar is of equal importance. To give you a flavour, in the people space we’ve invested heavily in counter fraud training, engagement and performance monitoring. In the technology space, we’ve again made investments in artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, voice risk analysis, and open-source intelligence tools and we’re currently examining the role that voice to text analytics plays as part of our comprehensive suite of discrete fraud identification tools. Finally, on the Insight front, we’ve created an Assessment and Intelligence function to assess fraud propensity, apply intelligence and ensure effective counter fraud triage. We joined the Insurance Fraud Bureau as affiliate members last year, too. Fraudsters never stop evolving their tactics and neither do we!

To support all of that and lead the rapid pace of change an impatient chap like me demands, I’ve added senior roles including a Head of Fraud Technology and Intelligence and a Head of Fraud Engagement in addition to the more traditional senior operational leadership roles that make our function tick. We’ve reduced justified complaints dramatically, improved client satisfaction, increased client returns on investment and created a suite of data and intelligence-driven products to complement our field and desk investigation services.

It’s been a full-on, busy, and thoroughly enjoyable 16 months. There’s always more to do and more innovation to be had but I’m really pleased with our progress. The attention to detail, commitment, and dedication of those I work with here tackling fraud makes for an incredibly enjoyable and fulfilling role.

Right International have a proven track record of identifying and sourcing the top talent across the claims and wider insurance market. If you are looking to add to your team now or in the near future, I would welcome the opportunity to help – please contact me.

If you have any ideas for future articles and would like to be involved, please let me know and I would welcome any feedback.

Please look out for more leadership blogs coming soon!

All the best,

Gary Pike

Founder & MD

Right International Insurance Headhunters