Speakers at briefings

Mark has led ABI’s work on fraud and financial crime since June 2011. As a member of the General Insurance Fraud Committee, he informs and oversees the industry counter fraud strategy, working closely with the Insurance Fraud Bureau and the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department. He leads industry lobbying and works closely with the government on the implementation UK counter fraud policy, including on the Fraud Strategy, and was previously a member of the government’s Insurance Fraud Taskforce.

Mark is also responsible for developing industry strategy on broader financial crime matters and is heavily involved in oversight of the government’s Economic Crime Plan. 

James Burge is the head of counter fraud at Allianz Insurance.

For the last six years, he has been leading Allianz’s counter fraud strategy, managing teams of investigators and fraud specialists who detect and debunk organised scams and opportunistic fraud targeting the commercial insurer.

James started his career at Allianz as a motor underwriter more than 20 years ago, progressing to a manager of technical underwriting, before being promoted to head of counter fraud.

James Burge sits on the General Insurance Fraud Committee (GIFC) who represent the general insurance industry to identify new threats and provide oversight for the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB). He takes part in many industry events like Insurance Times’ Fraud Charter, and he is regularly interviewed for the BBC’s Claimed and Shamed programme.

Adele Sumner is the Head of Counter Fraud Strategy & Financial Crime at RSA Insurance UK. She has over twenty years of ‘hands on’ experience in counter fraud activity in the insurance sector, including leading RSA’s Fraud Intelligence Team where she developed techniques and  experience in the use of the internet, both to assist individual investigations and to obtain data that will enhance fraud detection models. She is widely acknowledged for her expertise in the practical deployment and use of technology to identify fraud and has been an important figure in various fraud technology programmes both in RSA and at an industry level.  In her current role she is responsible for developing strategies to tackle fraud and adopts a risk focused, intelligence led approach to combating the external threat fraud posed to RSA. In 2008 she obtained a Master Degree in Fraud Management from Teesside University.

Pete is Head of Claims Counter Fraud at Aviva.  Pete has been at Aviva for 5 years prior to which he was a solicitor in private practice for 10 years, specialising in personal injury and counter fraud. 

Swarnava is a senior analytics leader at EXL with 14+ years of experience in global engagement management, analytics project execution, use case identification, data and analytics strategy development and risk management in insurance. He has extensive experience of setting up and running Analytics Centre Of Excellence at scale across UK, US, India and Philippines. Adept at interaction with CXO level stakeholders and partners to drive new business, expand accounts and establish brand profile.

Swarnava has worked extensively with UK insurers on Fraud Management and has helped deliver significant fraud savings through better use of external data including industry data sources like IFB and IFR, advanced analytics and digital solutions and AI and ML based fraud models.

Swarnava holds PG degree in management from IIM Ahmedabad and Masters  in management from ESCP Europe.

Marc Yeates is a seasoned professional with over 22 years of experience in the insurance industry. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Counter Fraud & Criminal Justice and has a rich background in both fraud prevention and investigation. For 12 years, Marc was a key figure at the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB), where he served as the Intelligence and Investigations Manager for 7 years, leading efforts to combat fraud across the sector.
Before his tenure at IFB, Marc gained extensive experience working in various claims, fraud, and intelligence teams at Zurich Insurance and Groupama Insurance. His expertise has been recognized across the industry, as he has actively represented the IFB on numerous industry working groups focused on tackling application fraud and internal fraud.
Outside of his professional career, Marc is an accomplished international house music DJ, bringing his passion for music to audiences around the globe in his spare time.

Currently Head of Claims at Ageas having held senior claims roles with several leading UK insurers. 27 years in the claims industry personal lines with a focus on home, operations, fraud, major loss and procurement.  Highly respected in the personal lines and home sector, William has won several industry awards for process driven improvements across claims and has led several claims and supplier transformations in recent years in Admiral and L&G. 

Having been at AXA for almost 20 years, Chris Walsh has been working predominantly in the commercial arena, specialising in claims. He started his insurance career at GRE Insurance developing his technical knowledge, before moving into leadership positions and then turning to customer facing roles. Eventually he transitioned back into operational leadership and has most recently been appointed the Claims Director at AXA Commercial, where he is responsible for the business’ overall commercial claims service, delivery and proposition.