GLOUCESTER based Ageas has become one of the first insurers to achieve ServiceMark Accreditation for all three of its core insurance product areas – Home, Motor and Travel.

Ageas employs around 600 people at its growing and thriving site on the outskirts of the city of Gloucester. Building on its success as the first ever insurer to achieve ServiceMark accreditation for its Home insurance products in 2013, Ageas Insurance has now been awarded the highly respected ServiceMark accreditation for its Travel and Motor Claims and Underwriting Services by the Institute of Customer Service (ICS), the professional body dedicated to leading customer service performance and professionalism in the UK.

The company achieved an overall score of 90.00, considerably higher than the Finance Insurance Sector top score of 79.5 and reinforcing the market leading service standards Ageas provides to its customers. When benchmarking the company against the Institute of Customer Service UKCSI overall score of 77.9, Ageas also came out extremely high. ServiceMark granted for the next three years, is the ICS’s most meticulous and thorough accreditation.

The accreditations followed a rigorous four-day assessment, conducted by an independent assessor and involved Travel and Motor insurance customer surveys, employee interviews and systematic analysis of written documentation and processes by the Institute of Customer Service. The assessment team also looked at eleven company characteristics including commitment, capability, consistency and professionalism as well as how easy it is to deal with Ageas.

Commenting on the accreditations, François-Xavier Boisseau, Chief Executive Officer, Insurance at Ageas said: “It’s all down to our employees’ dedication to giving our customers the individual service they need. I’m particularly proud that the Institute of Customer Service specifically recognised that we are continually developing our products and services for our customers and have a trusting and supporting ethos engendered throughout our business.”

Jo Causon, chief executive, Institute of Customer Service, adds: "ServiceMark is increasingly recognised as the standard for customer service excellence. Over 100 organisations have completed or are working towards ServiceMark. It enables organisations to benchmark themselves against best practice, gain a better insight into their customers' needs and develop strategies to meet them. The Institute of Customer Service Accreditation for its Home, Motor and Travel Insurance products puts Ageas in a very select group to be awarded this recognition across all three personal lines product areas, helping to set the bar for the rest of the industry to follow."

* Post Claims Awards 2014:Customer Care Award. Insurance Times Claims Excellence Awards 2014: Claims Training Initiative of the Year, Personal Lines Claims Initiative of the Year and Outstanding Insurer Claims Initiative of the Year Personal Lines.