General
Insurance industry in India was made open for private sector by Government through Insurance Regulator named as the “Insurance Regulatory Development and Authority of India (IRDAI) in the year 2000. Thereafter the Insurance Broker concept was in year 2002 through Insurance Brokers Regulation 2002 and further amended in 2003. These regulations clearly define the function and code of conduct of an insurance broker.
Statistics
Insurance Broking Industry in India Contributes 30% of market share in Non-Life Insurance (also known as General Insurance) and less than 1% in Life Insurance Industry which is more than 70% of total insurance market share in developed nations.
Knowing a risk is also a way of reducing loss. Insurance broker understands importance of Customer Risk Profile. Professional insurance brokers, quite often, conduct Risk Audit/Inspection of their customers thus making them aware of probable cause of loss/damages to them, followed by further advising them to mitigate risk by either insurance or some non-insurance measures or both.
Insurance Policy works in accurate efficiency when it is correctly designed & underwritten, which differs for every customer since their aspect of insurance could be different.
A retail customer needs insurance for his personal financial goals and his/her nature of profession/occupation makes it entirely unique.
Whereas A corporate customer needs insurance for his financial stability & growth of organization which depends on Corporate Industry, mode of business operation, products, risk control measures etc.
Therefore, Professional Insurance Brokers designs & underwrites insurance policy in such a manner that it is effective & appropriate to customer needs. It also ensures that there is no gap in customer expectation & insurance policy outcome. For an example, A Corporate Customer may not be following policy warranties in its business operation standard operating procedures which may result into claim dispute if cause of loss is restricted under policy warranties.
Therefore proper design & thus policy underwriting is utmost important part in insurance procurement.
We often come across myths that insurance company charges for insurance policy through insurance brokers or insurance broker charges extra for insurance services. However, these myths are misperception. In Insurance, Addition of insurance broker in procurement does not put an extra cost. In fact, Cost is often much better than direct purchase of insurance. This is because, Insurance premium does not have any maximum price tag except in retail health & Life Insurance.
Insurance brokers consistently understand & follow insurance market price behavior which helps their customer rather save cost than incurring more(which is a myth).
Customers often realize important of assistance of insurance professional whenever claim occurs. Claim realization is ultimate objective of an insurance policy. It hurts customer sentiments & financial stability if claim does not get settled appropriately. In our experience, Claim gets rejected/deducted more often due to in appropriate handling of claims when it occurs.
Insurance broker keep best knowledge domain of season professional and robust system in order to get claim settled right quality & quantum for their customer. They accompany their customer right from start of claim intimation until it gets settled. If needed, Insurance brokers help in legal recourse as well.
One of the main & conclusive object to insurance broking partner is that claim which is the ultimate outcome of insurance policy, shall conclude amicably, reasonably & to its best interpretation as per policy terms & condition. Therefore, We do not leave our customer hand even in circumstances where insurer does not process claim as per policy terms & condition. We do take legal opinion & suggest, advise & walk along with our customers during legal recourse of an disputed or improper settled claim.