Operations & Technology in Financial Services

Peter Horton

Chief Operating Officer, LV=

Biography

Peter Horton is the Chief Operating Officer of LV= General Insurance and MD of Britannia Rescue. As part of his role he has overall responsibility for LV='s Operations unit of over 2,700 staff. Peter has been in the insurance industry for 30 years and was there at the start of Direct Line, which transformed the entire industry, working along side with Peter Wood and Martin Long.

Peter is currently a Board Director of Thatcham and on the Editorial Board of Bodyshop Magazine.

Peter is an ebullient character; well known in the industry for his enthusiasm, knowledge and commitment to his job. Peter's approach is one of focusing and developing people to offer the best possible claims experience to customers.

Peter has made a huge difference at LV=. The Operations Unit including Sales & Service & Claims has changed dramatically in the last five years. In 2006 the company had a poor reputation for its claims service, high fraud rates and over 40% staff turnover. LV='s Operation is now one of the highest rated in the industry, winning 18 awards over the last 12 months including a Which peoples choice, a Personal Finance awards for customer service and has 92% satisfaction scores amongst its customers.

Some key initiatives Peter has lead at LV= include:

Cost savings of £50m by introducing new claims systems and management tools

A project to bring in-house a major outsourced part of the claims unit which resulted in major cost savings and 150 people recruited from WNS in Bristol

Introduction of new Claims System, Telephony and MI and Scanning Solutions.

Previous experience includes:

June 2003 – June 2005: Managing Director of claims at RBSI managing three million claims a year, overseeing 8000 staff with an annual spend of £3.4 billion. During his time in this role Peter was responsible for the integration of the Churchill Group and Direct Line Group claims operations under the banner of RBS Insurance.

1993 – 2003: Group Operations Director of Churchill. Peter ran several industry-leading projects whilst in this role including achieving lowest average claims cost across the industry, saving several million pounds whilst ensuring Churchill Insurance was publicly acknowledged as providing the best service across the industry.

1989 – 1993: Operations Director at Churchill. Peter was a founding director at Churchill responsible for Claims and customer service. During this role he personally developed and introduced the claims system which was widely acknowledged as the best in the market place. Benefits of the system included a lower loss ratio than competitors, enhanced relationships with suppliers and millions of pounds of cost savings each year. He also oversaw the introduction of the first claims unit in the UK insurance industry to have courtesy cars, faxing from screens and no claim forms.

1986: Claims Manager at the start up of Direct LinePeter Horton is the Operations Director of LV= General Insurance and, as part of his role, he has overall responsibility for LV=’s claims operation of over 800 staff. Peter has been in the insurance industry for 30 years and was a founder of Direct Line, which transformed the entire industry, along with Peter Wood and Martin Long.

Peter is an ebullient character; well known in the industry for his enthusiasm, knowledge and commitment to his job. Peter’s approach is one of focusing and developing people to offer the best possible claims experience to customers.

Peter has made a huge difference at LV=. The claims operation has changed dramatically in the last three years. In 2006 the company had a poor reputation for its claims service, high fraud rates and over 30% staff turnover. LV=’s claims operation is now one of the highest rated in the industry, winning several awards over the last 12 months including a Which peoples choice, a Personal Finance awards for customer service and has 92% satisfaction scores amongst its customers.

Some key initiatives Peter has lead at LV= include:

• Cost savings of £25m by introducing new claims systems and management tools
• A project to bring in-house a major outsourced part of the claims unit which resulted in major cost savings and 150 people recruited from WNS in Bristol

Previous experience includes:

• June 2003 – June 2005: Managing director of claims at RBSI managing three million claims a year, overseeing 8000 staff with an annual spend of £3.4 billion. During his time in this role Peter was responsible for the integration of the Churchill Group and Direct Line Group claims operations under the banner of RBS Insurance.
• 1993 – 2003: Operations director of Churchill. Peter ran several industry-leading projects whilst in this role including achieving lowest average claims cost across the industry, saving several million pounds whilst ensuring Churchill Insurance was publicly acknowledged as providing the best service across the industry.
• 1989 – 1993: Operations Director at Churchill. Peter was a founding director at Churchill responsible for Claims and customer service. During this role he personally developed and introduced the claims system which was widely acknowledged as the best in the market place. Benefits of the system included a lower loss ratio than competitors, enhanced relationships with suppliers and millions of pounds of cost savings each year. He also oversaw the introduction of the first claims unit in the UK insurance industry to have courtesy cars, faxing from screens and no claim forms.
• 1986: Claims Manager at the start up of Direct Line

David Weymouth

Group Operations & Risk Director, RSA Insurance

Biography

David is currently Group Director Operations and Risk at the RSA Group. He has responsibility for Operations, Risk Management, Technology, Procurement and Change Globally. Prior to joining the RSA Group in 2007 David had been consulting independently to a portfolio of blue chip and government clients. He was also an independent board member at the DTI and at Chordiant Inc a US Nasdaq quoted software business. He remains a trustee at the Charities Aid Foundation. David spent 27 years at Barclays, holding senior positions in Risk Management, Operations and Technology and in customer facing commercial businesses. These included Chief Operating Officer for corporate banking, Chief Executive for mid-market banking and Group Chief Information Officer where David was also part of the Group Executive Committee.

Ronnie Collard

Managing Director, Customer Services, Standard Life

Biography

Appointed as Managing Director Customer Services in June 2010, Ronnie joined the company in 1972. He has worked in UK Customer Services for the majority of his career at Standard Life occupying various roles. (1 day short of 40 years with the company when he speaks at the conference)

 

From 1994 to 1996 he worked in Standard Life’s Canadian Operations, and on returning in 1997 was appointed Director of Corporate Services responsible for Premises, Document Management, Office Services, Purchasing and Fleet management. Ronnie also spent some time at Operational Director in Standard Life Bank between November 1999 and April 2000 providing significant operational cover whilst the Bank was going through a reorganisation.

Victoria Swaysland

Director Operational Excellence, Group Finance & Change, Barclays

Biography

Victoria works in Group Centre for Barclays, focusing on improving business performance whilst creating and embedding a culture of continuous improvement for back office functions.

 

Victoria has been with Barclays since 2011 as Operational Excellence Director, during which time she has continued to expand on the OPEX agenda that she helped to build for Barclays whilst employed as a consultant with KPMG. Victoria’s focus to ensure that within the support functions, all activities are performed efficiently and effectively, while delivering maximum value for their customers and clients.

 

Prior to Barclays, Victoria worked as a management consultant within KPMG and as a Six Sigma/Lean Master Black Belt at AXA.