3rd December 2019

Freedom Brokers is forecasting a 50% reduction in post-sale validation costs to service amongst other benefits after it joined major insurance brands sharing insights into online quote manipulation using CDL's Hummingbird Syndicate.

Hummingbird Syndicate provides members with access to insights from participant organisations about the frequency and type of changes made to key risk factors by consumers requesting multiple online insurance quotes. This intelligence enables insurance retailers to identify suspicious patterns of behaviour and, because the solution integrates with real-time pricing, implement actions to mitigate against fraud, including declining to quote altogether, redirecting online sales to a contact centre or flagging risks for post-sale validation.

As a result, Freedom Brokers has established preferential arrangements with its insurer partners that have enabled it to implement a risk-based approach to validation. The resulting decrease in workloads has meant the broker is on-track to cut associated costs by half.

Commenting on the advantages of joining Hummingbird Syndicate, Freedom Brokers Managing Director Ray Westwick said: "The key benefit so far has been the significant reduction in cost-to-service. Also, declining to quote people engaging in quote manipulation, who are more likely to subsequently cancel as a result of failing to submit required documents, has already had a positive impact on cancellation rates.

"The information provided by Hummingbird Syndicate has allowed us to create sophisticated management information dashboards to help visualise the type and extent of changes people are making to key risk factors when shopping around for insurance. These have added real value to insurer presentations.

"Ultimately, solutions that potentially reduce insurance fraud and associated cancellation rates mean genuine consumers receive better service and prices, and aren't disadvantaged because of the actions of a small proportion of individuals."