Vero has won this year’s Gold Mansfield Award for excellence in claims handling, taking out the honour in a tight contest.

The presentation was made this afternoon via webinar due to COVID-19 social distancing measures. Other finalists for the overall award were last year’s winner Allianz, Hollard/HCi, and Zurich.

Category winners were Allianz (personal lines), HCi (SME property and casualty), FM Global (corporate property and casualty) and Global Transport Insurance (specialty).

Vero Executive Manager Commercial Property and Specialty Claims Luke Whenman accepted the Gold Mansfield on behalf of 250 team members at the Suncorp-owned insurer.

Mr Whenman says his claims team “brought the best they possibly can” during a challenging 12 months for the industry.

“At Vero two years ago we set out to execute a strategy around delivering best to market claims service, and for us this award is great feedback on the progress we have made towards that vision,” he said today.

The awards, named after the English Lord Chief Justice who introduced the concept of utmost good faith to the insurance process in 1766, are organised by Insurance News and LMI Group.

“It’s claims professionals who carry forward the concept of utmost good faith that has guided our industry since Lord Mansfield first introduced it into contract law,” Insurance News publisher Terry McMullan said today.

More than 2300 survey responses were received ahead of this year’s awards as part of the adjudication process. Unlike most awards focused on the insurance industry, companies and individuals are not invited to make submissions.

NSW state insurer icare and Steadfast have sponsored the event each year since it was launched in 2017.

The full results in the Mansfield Awards for Claims Excellence, with the finalists, were as follows:

Personal lines: The winner was Allianz. The other finalists were Australian Seniors, Millennium Underwriting Agencies and RACT.

SME property and casualty: The winner was Hollard Commercial Insurance (HCi). The other finalists were AFM, Catholic Church Insurances and Vero.

Corporate property and casualty: The winner was FM Global. The other finalists were Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company, Liberty Specialty Markets and Zurich Insurance (Australia) Limited.

Specialty: The winner was GT Insurance. Other finalists were Interruption Underwriting Agencies (IUA), NTI, RentCover and TravelCard.

The Gold Mansfield Award for overall excellence in claims: The winner was Vero. The other finalists were Allianz, Hollard/HCi and Zurich.