PRESS RELEASE

29 June 2011 For immediate release

International Insurance Experts volunteer time for Christchurch

***Experts humbled by Christchurch residents’ strength***

Expert insurance claim assessors from HSBC in Asia and the United Kingdom are travelling to New Zealand to see if they can offer any assistance to the Earthquake Commission with claims from the Christchurch earthquakes. David Hewitt, HSBC Insurance Asia, current supervisor of the first visiting insurance team comments: “The Earthquake Commission is doing a great job dealing with the claims, but with such a major disaster on its hands, we thought even a few pairs of hands would go some way to sharing a bit of the load.”

The teams, made-up of six to seven claims experts, are visiting New Zealand over a three month period, with the first team currently in the country. The teams will provide claims management, claims assessment and claims negotiation skills for home contents claims. The majority of the experts are from Hong Kong, but there will also be volunteers arriving from Malaysia and the UK.

“It is just beyond words to describe what people are dealing with. We are talking to families who’ve lost everything in the first quake, that have then gone on to repeatedly deal with the trauma of further shocks and losses, it is very humbling,” continues Mr Hewitt.

“You help with donations, that is how you are always able to help, but we were looking for other ways, this was the opportunity to offer some real and practical assistance,” continues Mr Hewitt.

David Griffiths, HSBC New Zealand’s CEO comments: “HSBC New Zealand is proud to have the HSBC Group show such support for Canterbury. Although it is under terrible circumstances, we are pleased that our international colleagues are able to provide real assistance and use their specialised skills to help the New Zealand community.”

David Hewitt says the team’s morale is high, everyone is working hard to do what they can and that, “New Zealand is a beautiful place, aside from knowing what you are dealing with, we have been lucky to experience the culture here and we hope to someday visit under different terms.”

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