MAASTRICHT, Netherlands — While insurers generally meet the traditional needs of their policyholders, several areas that need improvement include updating policy wordings, more innovative products and a greater willingness to pay claims, according to a group of European risk managers.

Product developments fail to address many new risks that policyholders face, and difficulty collecting claims payments in particular causes problems for risk managers and their companies, they said.

Responding to the criticisms, leading executives at insurers and brokers acknowledged that they need to innovate more and that paying claims is an integral part of their services. However, several executives said commercial claims often are inherently complex and disputes are inevitable.

Although insurers frequently talk about innovation, “their innovation hasn't taken a quantum leap to where the risks that the customers are facing are at,” said Chris McGloin, vice president of risk management and insurance at Invensys P.L.C. in London. “They are trying to refine existing products and solutions.”

For example, few insurers offer policies that adequately cover supply chain risks. Those that do often price the coverage too conservatively for it to be attractive, he said during a risk manager panel at the FERMA Risk Management Forum 2013, which the Federation of European Risk Management Associations held last week in Maastricht, Netherlands.

Mike McGavick, CEO of XL Group P.L.C., agreed that the insurance industry has a poor record of innovation.

“It's poor for a very simple reason: We look backwards,” he said during an insurer executive panel.

Insurers need to make better use of research and data analytics to develop relevant products, he said, including cyber risk products that address the needs of large policyholders rather than just midsize buyers.

Supply chain risks in particular require better use of “big data” by insurers, said Peter Hancock, CEO of AIG Property Casualty, a unit of American International Group Inc. Existing data does not generate sufficient information to underwrite the risks, so insurers should collaborate with buyers to generate new data sets to help calculate the exposure, he said.

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But it's not just emerging products that need to be reviewed, risk managers said.

While insurers and brokers generally serve the needs of their policyholders, especially when all the parties have well-established relationships, their administration of traditional insurance can cause problems, said Tjerk van Dijk, director of insurance for Stork/Fokker at Stork Technical Services Holding B.V. in Utrecht, Netherlands.

An insurer may pay a standard liability claim in one case, but take a different view in another case and deny a similar claim. Then “we need a lawyer to prove that we are right,” he said.

Insurers sometimes also are reluctant to change policy wordings based on scenario analysis conducted with individual policyholders, said Invensys' Mr. McGloin.

“We then have to go to our (chief financial officer) and say that the policy hasn't been changed even though the wording is unclear ... there's an agreement about intention, but there's no change in the contract,” Mr. McGloin said.

Policyholders require stability, reliability and a willingness to pay from their insurers, said Axel Theis, CEO of Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty A.G. in Munich.

“I'm talking about more than just writing a check,” he said. Policyholders require pragmatic claims management from insurers, so insurers should ensure that they keep their claims operations in-house rather than outsourced, he said.

Given the complexity of commercial insurance claims, however, disputes between policyholders and insurers are bound to happen, said XL's Mr. McGavick.

Policyholders should try to determine their insurers' view of claims, he said. “Our disposition is that it's your money; let's work out how it should be paid.”

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Brokers also must play a role in helping their clients get their claims paid by insurers, said Peter Zaffino, president and CEO of Marsh Inc.

“Claims advocacy and getting claims settled, processed and paid is a critical part of what we do for a living,” Mr. Zaffino said during a broker executive panel.

Cash flow often is important for policyholders, and the insurance industry needs to do more to respond to those concerns when they are determining the value of claims, he said.