Tribunal directs cos to appoint qualified insurance agents

LAHORE: An Insurance Tribunal has directed insurance companies to appoint qualified insurance agents enable to explain each and every aspect of insurance policy to policyholders.

It has further directed that the agents should have the ability to explain special terminology in simple words and in the language of prospective policyholders.

Furthermore, video should also be made wherein advice of insurer agent and queries raised by intended policyholder should be recorded the tribunal directed and added that the same video should be given on demand to policyholders.

The Tribunal further directed insurance companies to communicate full information to policyholder regarding policy and any ancillary matters relating thereto, nature of different funds, creation of statutory funds, location of units and investment of premium amount fund in sound equity, including its name, so that policyholder could know value of his/ her /its units timely in an effective manner throughout the policy cycle.

It has also directed that insurer and corporate insurance agent should provide detail of illustrations to prospective policyholder as per the formant provided by the Commission from time to time with profit on maturity of surrender and insurance agents should ensure that illustration plan given in the prospective policy order as to stand alone document and should also provide a reasonable time to understand the illustration before purchasing life insurance policy.

The Tribunal also directed that in case prospective policy holder was an illiterate or individual person or was a lady, whether educated or uneducated, the insurer or its agent should ensure presence of an independent educated advice, preferably of male member of her family, who should also be a witness of policy documents.

It also stressed bilingual policy documents in Urdu and English in plain and simple language so that the policy holders, if not much qualified, could understand the nature of the plan sold.

The Tribunal also directed that in future all insurance companies dealing in business of life insurance should preferably invest amount of premium after creating the fund chosen by policy holder in a company having at least rating of AA+ issued by Pakistan Credit Rating Agency to protect interest of policy holders and to save the insurer from unnecessary litigation.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024