Jack Cuff, JD, CPCU, ARe
917 359 1514
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Navigant Consulting Inc. is pleased to announce the formation of its Reinsurance Claim Practice, which offers claim audit services to reinsurers. Our services, which are competitively priced, can substitute for reinsurers’ own claim staff or supplement them on large selected accounts.
We are an independent firm with no conflicts of interest. And we can provide innovative solutions that promptly respond to our clients’ urgent needs.
The Reinsurance Claim Practice can help to:
· Identify and quantify exposure potentials earlier and more accurately;
· Reduce and control loss and expense costs;
· Maximize cash flow and recovery opportunities;
· Avoid unacceptable surprises and delays in claims;
· Assist with reinsurance collection difficulties;
· Develop quality control, system capability, and audit trail compliance;
· Achieve case reserve and IBNR adequacy;
· Construct formulae for financial modeling and forecasting.
Our practice consists of claims professionals from the reinsurance, insurance, self-insurance industries who provide claim services, including reinsurance audits, for its clients. All of these specialists, who hold a variety of professional degrees and designations, are senior consultants at NCI. These consultants are expert in the technical aspects of claims including coverage analysis, claims processing and reserving, reinsurance and retrocession analysis and processing, insurance operations and litigation management.
Jack Cuff manages the NCI Reinsurance Claim Practice. He has over 30 years of reinsurance claim experience. Mr. Cuff began his career as a claim executive at General Reinsurance and later became a Vice President of Claims at the Munich Reinsurance, US Branch.
Mr. Cuff is skilled in multiple lines of business. He specializes in reinsurance issues including loss evaluation, coverage interpretation, litigation support, and expert witness testimony.
As a consultant, Mr. Cuff has provided a wide variety of reinsurance related services to numerous companies in the US, Australia, Europe and Japan. He and his staff work closely with actuaries, underwriters, attorneys, and claim directors to provide customized and innovative solutions for their claim related issues.
Mr. Cuff, formerly a practicing insurance attorney, earned a CPCU and an Associate in Reinsurance (ARe) from the Insurance Institute of America. He has written numerous papers and has spoken at several insurance and reinsurance conferences.
During our reinsurance audits we analyze the reinsurance coverage afforded under our client’s contracts; we interview the ceding company’s staff responsible for handling the claims; and, we review both reported and unreported claim files relating to the reinsurance contracts. All of this is, of course, tailored to the client’s needs.
The following are topics we typically cover during our claim reviews:
1. Fundamental claims handling procedures, including:
a) claim investigation
b) evaluation and analysis of claim
c) control over and guidance given to defense counsel,
d) requests for information from counsel or primary carrier, and,
e) diary system for follow-up on claims information requests.
2. Reserve information, including:
a) dates of reserve changes,
b) reports or recommendations for reserve changes by counsel,
c) step laddering of reserves, and
d) underreserving.
3. Notice of claim information, including:
a) notice of loss to the company, the primary carrier, the reinsurance intermediary, and the reinsurers.
4. Communications with reinsurers on claim progress
5. Reservation of rights letters or other coverage issues, including communications to reinsurers on those issues.
6. Monitoring counsel or declaratory judgment expenses.
7. Audits conducted of the primary carrier or other claims handling entity.
8. Handling and tracking of aggregate claims.
9. Proper cessions of loss to the reinsurance contract, including proper contract year and underwriting year, and whether any contract exclusions apply to the cession of the loss.
10. Maintenance and preparation of claims registers and loss bordereaux.