Verius Risk Solutions

Verius Ltd to provide CHCs with data-sharing platform to counter fraud following agreement with HD

The Credit Hire Organisation (CHO) has signed an agreement with law firm Hill Dickinson to ensure vital insurance claim data will be preserved to enable its members to prevent, detect and manage fraudulent claims and can still be used to fight crime.

Kirsty McKno, chair of the CHO, which represents the UK credit hire industry, said the agreement comes in the wake of the acquisition of Hill Dickinson’s insurance business by defendant firm Keoghs.

The Hill Dickinson portfolio includes the Netfoil anti-fraud database, which is widely used by CHCs (credit hire companies) to combat credit hire fraud, and there was concern that the data could be lost.

Kirsty said: “We are delighted to have negotiated a smooth transfer of claims data out of Hill Dickinson into a newly-created risk identification business, Verius, which will provide an enhanced level of fraud services to our members through its database, VBase.

CHCs have thrown their support behind the new company, which will be headed by James Bilham, who previously managed the Netfoil data provider relationships for Hill Dickinson.

Commenting on the agreement, James Bilham said: “Verius looks forward to providing credit hire businesses with a significantly enhanced suite of products and services to help them prevent vehicle thefts, staged accidents, fraudulent claims and other criminal activity.”

He said that Netfoil had contributed to the prevention detection and management of insurance fraud for the benefit of both insurers and credit hire companies. Verius would build upon the service previously offered to CHCs.

Kirsty said that on the back of this agreement, the CHO has also opened discussions with the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) to explore further opportunities for data sharing.

Kirsty explained that the CHO and its members are as committed to fighting fraud as the rest of the insurance industry. “Preserving the data previously held in Netfoil, and working with Verius, ensures that there is a service for the CHCs to use to reach this common goal, while enabling discussions to progress with the IFB.”

“Competition issues and the adversarial nature of our business has slowed progress in data sharing, but we want to change this, in order to make sure the scarce resources for law enforcement are fully utilised, including more support for IFED to bring successful prosecutions, which I believe to be the best possible fraud deterrent.”