Annual Report Page Sequence

Federal Insurance Ombudsman 2018-19 Quaid -e- Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah Federal Insurance Ombudsman 2018-19 Honorable President of Pakistan Dr. Arif Alvi Federal Insurance Ombudsman 2018-19 Honorable Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan Federal Insurance Ombudsman 2018-19 Vision To develop a modern and sound oversight mechanism based on equitable principles to take congnizance of maladministration in Insurance Industry of Pakistan Federal Insurance Ombudsman 2018-19 Mission To Provide Judicious protection of interests of stakeholders in Insurance Industry. Federal Insurance Ombudsman 2018-19 To provide free of charge, informal, amicable and eﬀicient resolution mechanism to address issues of maladministration in Insurance Industry Federal Insurance Ombudsman 2018-19 FEDERAL INSURANCE OMBUDSMAN’S ROLE IMPORTANT IN ENSURING JUSTICE: PRESIDENT October 17, 2018 President Dr Arif Alvi met the Federal Insurance Ombudsman, Muhammad Raeesuddin- Paracha at the President House. During the meeting, Mr. Paracha briefed the President about the organization’s annual and overall performance and told him that due to the awareness campaign launched by the institution, the number of complaints lodged regarding non-payment of claims by insurance companies and bank insurance has increased over time. He said the institution of Federal Insurance Ombudsman imple- ments the current government’s vision of timely and cheap justice. Mr. Paracha briefed that after Islamabad and Lahore, other regional offices in Multan and Peshawar have also been opened while more offices will be opened to cover other regions of Pakistan. President Alvi expressed satisfaction over the institution’s performance and emphasized that in line with the needs of the era, latest technology should be used to further maxi- mize the performance of the institution. The President said that use of information technology could help further enhance the performance and efficiency of the institution of Federal Insurance Ombudsman. He said consumers should be given proper information about their right to appeal in case of rejection of claim. 01 Federal Insurance Ombudsman 2018-19 Federal Insurance Ombudsman 2018-19 stated mission is to diagnose, investigate, redress and rectify any injustice being done to EXPRESS TRIBUNE INTERVIEW OF a person; which must be done in fair and transparent manner and within the given MUHAMMAD RAEES UDDIN PARACHA timelines. FEDERAL INSURANCE OMBUDSMAN Q: What is the role of Insurance Ombudsman? A: The role of Federal Insurance Ombudsman is to investigate complaints or grievances between the insurer and the insured and mediate fair settlements. This Forum is here to protect the people against violation of their rights, misuse of power, unfair decisions and maladministration of the insurance companies. The Ombudsman plays an increasingly important role in improving public administration and governance while making the government's actions more open and its administration more accountable to the public. The insurance ombudsman’s role begins when a policy holder is aggrieved from any of the actions of the insurance company which includes non-payment of death claim or any monetary damages claim. The complaint could be on account of a monetary loss or demand of extra-charges of premium by the Insurance Companies. Almost 25,000 to 30,000 claims are rejected every year by all insurance companies- be it life insurance or general insurance. Q: How does Federal Insurance Ombudsman help people? A: Federal Ombudsman performs several tasks such as it examines complaints from citizens about how the managementof insurance companies acts and functions. We make recommendations on compensations of monetary loss suffered by a Policy Holder, or in case of death his legal heirs, caused by maladministration of Insurance Q: Tell us about yourself and the challenges that you have faced & how has been your Companies. Moreover, we offer the policyholders or their beneficiaries a speedy and journey so far? cost-free way in resolving their grievances caused by the insurance companies. And at A: I am a civil servant and I joined service in 1982 through the public service commission. the same time, it’s highly effective way of providing justice within only 60 to 90 days as During my tenure in the federal government, I served as a Secretary to the Government compared to the other forums of similar nature. of Pakistan as well as with some key institutions like State Life Corporation and other Q: What kind of cases or complaints does this Forum handle? federal government bodies. In 2015, I joined as the Federal Insurance Ombudsman A: The insurance can be divided into 2 major types, life insurance & general insurance. Pakistan when this organization was in its infancy; and the number of annually General insurance refers to the insurance, which are not covered under life insurance registered complaints was much lower in comparison to the quantum of complaints and includes various types of insurance, i.e. fire, marine, motor, business etc. Life that actually existed against the maladministration of the insurance companies. With a insurance, as the name suggests, is insurance plan that covers the risk of contingencies proactive public information campaign I was able to boost up the public awareness that can affect human life and pays out the sum assured to the nominee on the death and confidence which led to a progressive increase in the institution of grievances. of the insured, or to the insured on the expiry of the definite term. We also handle cases Q: What is the vision & mission of Federal Insurance Ombudsman? of health insurance & travel insurance. A: The vision of federal insurance ombudsman is to provide expeditious, cost-free & Q: Which institutions can we complain against in the Federal Insurance Ombudsman? hassle-free relief to the people by addressing their grievances against Insurance A: Mostly against the insurance companies, provided they have committed anything Companies operating in Pakistan and to promote good governance therein. Our wrong against any Policy holder. 02 03 Federal Insurance Ombudsman 2018-19 Federal Insurance Ombudsman 2018-19 Q: Can Federal Insurance Ombudsman begin any investigation against anyone on its Q: What suggestions would you like to make to the government regarding insurance own? industry & policies? A: Investigation can only be done if a complaint is registered by a complainant. We can A: My foremost suggestion is that the people should first make themselves aware and do research & we can make recommendations to the regulatory body SECP for must go through all the contents and have proper understanding of terms & conditions institutional improvement of the insurance companies by way of suggesting better before consenting for any insurance policy. Because in many cases it happens that procedures, or in case of banks to the State Bank of Pakistan. people do not understand what insurance is & they just fall in the trap due to persuasion Q: What kind of challenges & difficulties is the insurance industry facing? by bankers etc. Bankers have hefty commissions in selling these policies hence, people should be careful about that. A: The insurance industry in Pakistan, even after more than 70 years of existence, remains Q: What is the difference between a Court and an Ombudsman Forum? largely underdeveloped as its contribution to the GDP is below 1 percent - in a time A: The Ombudsman is a quasi-judicial forum. We decide the cases on the basis of when regional players, such as Indian and Bangladeshi insurers, have managed to documentary evidence, we examine the documents produced by both the achieve a growth of almost 2 to 3 percent. One reason why insurance business has not parties—the complainant & the company. On the basis of those documents & personal penetrated deeply in Pakistani environment is that it is largely perceived as a business hearing we decide the matter on facts and merit of the case. We have no power to which is antithesis to Islamic beliefs generally held by people. Although, insurance compel the attendance of witnesses, or take evidence on oath or test evidence by companies have come a long way trying to neutralize this notion and have somewhat cross-examination. On the other hand, the courts cross-examine the witnesses and the succeeded in convincing a few, but still a large number of people are not ready to complainant has to attend the court proceedings, and only thereafter the court accept this very offer. The Islamic insurance, widely known as Takaful has been in the reaches the final decision. The procedures of the courts are lengthy and costly. The market for quite a while now, but has failed to penetrate deep in the market as lack of courts may take years for deciding about any complaint, while we resolve it within just 2 proper marketing has resulted in ignorance of the product amongst the masses. There is to 3 months timeframe. Additionally, when it comes to courts, people also have to bear a trust deficit between the insurance companies & the masses. Unless that trust deficit is fees of the lawyers and the entire procedure is quite expensive and time consuming. bridged, the promotion of insurance in Pakistan will remain a difficult task. But we also How much time does ombudsman take for resolving any case? hope that public should consider insurance companies as partners of their odd times. A: We decide the case within 60 days timeframe. But sometimes, there are exceptional Q: Do you record complaints of overseas Pakistanis too? cases where parties delay the procedure and hence it may occasionally take a few A: Yes, we record such complaints, and they can reach us through email, but when the more days. We don’t entertain such cases that have already been filed elsewhere or are hearing is due, they are required to nominate somebody in their place if they can’t pending in some court of law.

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