General insurers want brokers to be more professional

As the insurance industry gets ready to receive higher foreign capital and arrival of global reinsurers, general insurers want more professionalism from the brokers fraternity to improve customer services.
"Many insurance brokers hardly handle their accounts professionally and are acting mostly like agents with no value addition. Though some of them do provide professional services, many are only renewal chasers," GIC Re acting chairman and managing director K Sanath Kumar told PTI.
Today over 20 per cent of the Rs 90,000 crore general insurance industry are sourced through brokers, and the industry is set to cross the Rs 1-trillion-mark this year. In most of the mature global markets, close to 90 per cent general insurance sales are routed through brokers.

"The brokers probably work solely to offer a lower premium to retain a customer. While some of them do add value, in many cases more could be done. They need to be more focused on value generation," he said, adding brokers have become a major segment of intermediaries in direct and reinsurance.
Calling for better customer service, Kumar argued that intense competition is driving players to more niche areas such as widening of covers, optimisation of risks offered and better data analytics.
ICICI Lombard General Insurance also concurred with GIC Re saying there is a need for brokers to get more involved in their job.

"Brokers need to transition from playing largely transactional roles to evolving as problem solvers for their partners. They must work closely with insurers to increase penetration," ICICI Lombard vice-president for broker relations Birendra Mohanty said.
He further said there are plenty of opportunities in segments like SMEs and MSMEs which can be effectively tapped using brokers' distribution network. They should increase awareness for risks such as cyber liability and intellectual property rights, he added.