Today’s Insurance Companies & Fraudulent Policies

 

For a long time to come, the combined efforts of the various insurance sector regulators – Nigerian Insurers Association, the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers, the Institute of Loss Adjusters of Nigeria, Association of Registered Insurance Agents and the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria etc., will continue to produce negative impacts, especially in the lives of very few Nigerian business community who still have some level of faith in insurance owing to the various type of disguised fraud.

The rising incidents of failed policies, fraudulent marketing gimmick, ambiguous policy narratives, burdensome policy documents crafted in distrust, unhealthy time-buying habits, unprogressive protocols and ancient bureaucracy, to mention just few, are what the unsuspecting Nigerians surrender to on daily basis, and unless deliberate people-based, sincere and business oriented policies are put in place, Nigerians would continue to be impoverished at the expense of the illicit activities of the sub-sector initially created to help keep the businesses and individual endeavors afloat.

Today, from recent studies, only very few insurance companies have managed to crawl above the credibility mark. Amongst the list of fair-enough insurance companies are found some of the new insurance companies, struggling to introduce dynamism and trust back into the insurance sub-sector through products and services repackaging, innovative and transparency in operations. The study has huge evidence of doubts and insincere practice habits from a company like African Alliance Insurance companies, one of the early generation insurance companies in Nigeria that has become antipathetic to innovation and positive change.

Most customers interviewed said they have lost hope and confidence in the present day insurance practice owing to surging incidents of unhealthy bureaucracy, double standard in their operations, extremely slow or lack of response when it matters, ambiguity in policy documents, criminal and unfair deductions in customers savings and premiums, uncourteous staffers, dirty office environment, inconsistency in the profile of marketing workers and agents who barely understands the ethics and integrity associated with insurance business whereby insurance products gets sold through poorly trained agents and marketers to the unsuspecting members of the public out of desperate falsehood in the pursuit and desperation to secure unmerited commission, unknown to the clients, who will be refused rights of refunds, having discovered he/she has been sold wrong policies he was not ready for, so the client is persuaded to continue to pay unhappy premiums until certain number of years are met after which he would be given 40% of his entire savings (premiums), as punishment for not waiting till the end tenure of the policy which favors them.

The most troubling part of this study, revealed that, oftentimes, a larger percentage of clients discontinue with their policies on the realization that they were deceived into buying policies different from the original policy documents as contained in the company’s book of lies, leading to outright forfeiture of premiums, African Alliance Insurance Company is leading in this act. With well-above 60 years in operation, African Alliance Insurance Company and other related insurance companies in the sub-sector continue to enjoy blotted ratings due to jumbo dividends declared with proceeds from frustrated and unsuspecting clientele across the state. It is most absurd and regrettable for clients who have saved and paid their premiums, painstakingly, to be penalized by being paid less than 50% of their savings having met the basic and minimum tenor for surrender value request.

How does this unfair business practice achieve the primary purpose of insurance in the first place; most respondents lamented the loss of confidence in both the insurance sector players and their regulators, hoping that that the federal government, through the Central Bank of Nigeria and or any other related financial MDAs to promptly intervene. Even the writer is a victim making this study a very empirical one.

Today’s Insurance Companies & Fraudulent Policies

For a long time to come, the combined efforts of the various insurance sector regulators – Nigerian Insurers Association, the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers, the Institute of Loss Adjusters of Nigeria, Association of Registered Insurance Agents and the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria etc., will continue to produce negative impacts, especially in the lives of very few Nigerian business community who still have some level of faith in insurance owing to the various type of disguised fraud.

The rising incidents of failed policies, fraudulent marketing gimmick, ambiguous policy narratives, burdensome policy documents crafted in distrust, unhealthy time-buying habits, unprogressive protocols and ancient bureaucracy, to mention just few, are what the unsuspecting Nigerians surrender to on daily basis, and unless deliberate people-based, sincere and business oriented policies are put in place, Nigerians would continue to be impoverished at the expense of the illicit activities of the sub-sector initially created to help keep the businesses and individual endeavors afloat.

Today, from recent studies, only very few insurance companies have managed to crawl above the credibility mark. Amongst the list of fair-enough insurance companies are found some of the new insurance companies, struggling to introduce dynamism and trust back into the insurance sub-sector through products and services repackaging, innovative and transparency in operations. The study has huge evidence of doubts and insincere practice habits from a company like African Alliance Insurance companies, one of the early generation insurance companies in Nigeria that has become antipathetic to innovation and positive change.

Most customers interviewed said they have lost hope and confidence in the present day insurance practice owing to surging incidents of unhealthy bureaucracy, double standard in their operations, extremely slow or lack of response when it matters, ambiguity in policy documents, criminal and unfair deductions in customers savings and premiums, uncourteous staffers, dirty office environment, inconsistency in the profile of marketing workers and agents who barely understands the ethics and integrity associated with insurance business whereby insurance products gets sold through poorly trained agents and marketers to the unsuspecting members of the public out of desperate falsehood in the pursuit and desperation to secure unmerited commission, unknown to the clients, who will be refused rights of refunds, having discovered he/she has been sold wrong policies he was not ready for, so the client is persuaded to continue to pay unhappy premiums until certain number of years are met after which he would be given 40% of his entire savings (premiums), as punishment for not waiting till the end tenure of the policy which favors them.

The most troubling part of this study, revealed that, oftentimes, a larger percentage of clients discontinue with their policies on the realization that they were deceived into buying policies different from the original policy documents as contained in the company’s book of lies, leading to outright forfeiture of premiums, African Alliance Insurance Company is leading in this act. With well-above 60 years in operation, African Alliance Insurance Company and other related insurance companies in the sub-sector continue to enjoy blotted ratings due to jumbo dividends declared with proceeds from frustrated and unsuspecting clientele across the state. It is most absurd and regrettable for clients who have saved and paid their premiums, painstakingly, to be penalized by being paid less than 50% of their savings having met the basic and minimum tenor for surrender value request.

How does this unfair business practice achieve the primary purpose of insurance in the first place; most respondents lamented the loss of confidence in both the insurance sector players and their regulators, hoping that that the federal government, through the Central Bank of Nigeria and or any other related financial MDAs to promptly intervene. Even the writer is a victim making this study a very empirical one.