Zurich has paid out a life insurance claim two months after the death of the policyholder, ending a claims process in which the insurer was described by an adviser as "obstructive" and "unprofessional".
In a statement on Thursday, Zurich said it would "reflect on the advisers' feedback", but stated it had at no point refused to pay the claim, saying it simply had not received all the required medical information.
The claim related to a man, Mr V, who died unexpectedly on the operating table in early September.
Two months on Zurich had still not paid the £20,043 owed to Mr V's widow, and had only provided evasive and inconsistent reasons for this, the family's adviser claimed.
This prompted the family's financial adviser, Barry Humptley, to launch a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman Service, and to contact the press.
He told FTAdviser that the manner in which Zurich had "conducted themselves in relation to this claim has been very unprofessional and without compassion", adding the process had been "very upsetting" for the family.
On Thursday, Mr Humptley informed FTAdviser that Zurich had paid the claim.
Zurich commented in a statement: "Zurich can confirm that having reviewed the additional medical information we requested (received today), we have now paid this claim.
"At no point did we refuse to pay the customer's family.
"There are cases where extra medical information is required to make a full assessment of a claim and every effort has been made make this process as smooth as possible. We will of course reflect further on the advisers' feedback as we are committed to delivering the highest possible standards of service to our customers.
"We are immensely proud of our claims payment record and between January 2015 and June 2016, we paid out on over 98% of life claims with over 2500 families benefitting from payments of more than £205m."
james.fernyhough@ft.com
