The Gold Mansfield award recognising claims excellence was presented to Vero last week, with the insurer also winning top honours in the SME Property and Casualty category.

Other winners on the night were QBE in Personal Lines, Zurich for Corporate Property and Casualty, and EBM Rent Cover and GT Insurance in Specialty.

The awards this year included the presentation of a Purple Mansfield, introduced to recognise a company or individual that has gone above and beyond and provided a service that has made a real difference to a client or a community.

The inaugural Purple Mansfield was awarded to Natasha Blanch, a commercial assessor with Vero, for her work in supporting a large commercial customer during the flooding disaster in southeast Queensland after her own home was also inundated.

The awards, run by LMI Group and sponsored by Steadfast and icare, were presented at the Establishment Ballroom in Sydney on Thursday evening, with about 150 people attending the event.

Vero took out the Gold Mansfield, presented to the company that scores highest overall, for a third consecutive year.

Winners are decided based on a survey of brokers and others that assesses performance in areas such as speed of service, proactivity, accuracy and fairness. Data from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) is also considered.

LMI Group Chairman and Founder Allan Manning says whenever Vero has a matter go to AFCA it has a very high rate of resolution before a ruling, and this in turn appears to be driving positive responses from brokers and insureds.

The Mansfield Awards are named in honour of the British Lord Chief Justice who introduced the industry to the principle of utmost good faith some 250 years ago.