Insurance brokers’ role being underplayed.
HARARE, Insurance service seekers haves over the years relied on insurance brokers for advice on insurance products and risks among others.However there has been an emergency of such services a banc assurance and insurance agents that are cutting the role of the brokers. In the past brokers have accused them of conditional selling of insurance saying it goes against consumer rights to choice, as clients should be given an option to choose insurance brokers of their choice when they are being given loans.
Recently Insurance 24 spoke to IBAZ chairman of the marketing committee Mapiye Chigorondondo who says the role of a broker is being underplayed in Zimbabwe.
Below are the experts of the interview:
I24: You indicated that the broker is critical in the insurance equation. May you shed more light?
MC: I think people are not really realizing the role of the broker, but he plays an important role in the whole insurance equation.
He is the intermediary between the insurance company and the client, and he is a well trained professional who provides insurance and risk management advise to the insurance public. I think that role is being underplayed but it’s very important, for example if you want to pay
lobola you go through a “ munyayi”, you can’t talk directly with the father in-law. There will be a problem. So broker is exactly that relationship. He’s a client’s advocate. As brokers we give so much attention to the client. I’m not saying the insurance company does not give attention to the client who goes directly, it does but the broker plays much more and we understand the client much better.
I24: What have been the trends in the broking industry?
MC: There has been a lot of distribution trends recently that have come up like banc assurance. Its cutting out the broker. We have insurance
companies who now have their own agencies which is good as they are giving insurance back to the client but the challenge is there .Are the clients receiving proper advise, insuring through an agent , are they receiving proper advise insuring directly? I’m not sure about that. As broker we give proper advise in terms of what to do on insurance. And also as brokers we deal with the whole market. We have the experience and we do have the capacity to talk to all the insurers, for example we have 24 or so insurance companies. As brokers we are licensed to deal with these companies. So you notice that in terms of giving perfect deal to the client we are a better positioned than going direct. What we do is we get information from the clients and we go and source quotations from all those 24 or so companies if that what the client wants. We get the best deal in terms of price and coverage and that’s what we give to the client. If go directly it means you just getting 1 or 2 and you don’t know if you are getting the best deal or not.
I24: In light of these, what can you say is the future of insurance brokers in Zimbabwe?
MC: As brokers we should always be innovative 1 in terms technology. Most of these are able to distribute their products through effective technology in terms of systems and so on. I think as brokers we are lacking and also in terms of visibility. Our visibility is actually very low. We really need to spruce up our image.
I24: What can you say are the operational challenges that you have been facing?
MC I don’t know if I can call it operation but it’s the direct commutation with client, banc assurance and so on.
I think that the major problem. I have strong urge to tell people to insure through a broker. Not a just a broker but a registered member of the Insurance Brokers Association. We have minimum standards that we subscribe to. If you are or have a complaint or you are ill-treated you know where to go. We also have a profession indemnity policy and if one makes a mistake, the client will be able to get compensation. We offer insurance broking and risk management services which other institutions do no offer.
I24: Are there new innovations that you’re putting in place to ensure that your visibility is enhanced?
MC: We are doing that. We now have an association, Insurance Brokers Association of Zimbabwe (IBAZ). Our public relations department has been working closely with insurance and pensions commission (IPEC) and we go for road shows to educate people on what to do and how to do it.
