Crombie Lockwood has given responsibility for both claims and insurer relationships to Myles Noble, expanding his role to head of insurer relationships and broker claims as part of a wider organisational structure refresh.

According to CEO Carl O’Shea, bringing the two previously separate responsibilities together made good sense.

“We have always maintained a tripartite approach to our business with equal focus on the client, the underwriter and the broking advisor,” he said.

“Let’s face it the quality of your insurer relationships is never more clearly demonstrated than in a claims situation and all three parties have a stake in that.”

O’Shea said Noble would have three distinct areas of accountability: “His first is to maintain and develop our industry relationships, especially among strategic alliance partners; secondly he will continue to lead our Centralised Claims team as well as our Specialist and Agency Claims teams; and thirdly he will work with Gillian Granger our Chief Operating Officer on various developmental areas across the company.”

Noble told Insurance Business he saw it as a natural evolution of the work he had done so far building Crombie Lockwood’s relationship with insurers, particularly in dealing with the market post earthquake.

“I have some excellent existing relationships to develop further and some new ones to build.

“Retaining overall responsibility for claims seems a good fit also given Crombie Lockwood’s proven emphasis on assisting our clients at claim time.”

The appointment is effective immediately.