Study: Focus on Claims Costs

A report in P.R. Newswire said the U.S. property & casualty insurance industry -- suffering from declining investment returns and unprecedented claims from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks -- could retain $30 billion annually through aggressive transformation of the way it processes insurance claims, according to global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney, a subsidiary of global services leader EDS. A.T. Kearney conducted the study following its effort to understand the impact of the attacks on the insurance sector as part of the New York City Partnership‘s Economic Impact Study. The analysis indicates insurance companies could possibly emerge from the near-term fallout stronger, provided they embark on concentrated efforts to better underwriting results and enhance operational performance.