How to select an Insurance Broker?

Chosing your Insurance Brokers for your Risk Management needs is a key decision for an enterprise or individual just like deciding on your statutory Auditor or Legal advisor. As Insurance Broking in India is in its infancy, we believe your Insurance Broker should submit to you or your management a detailed Proposal Covering the below mentioned key points before issuing  the Mandate Letter to represent you.

1. Broker's adherance to the regulations Broker should update the enterprise regrading his duties and responsiblity with respect to the regulations is important as these regulations are made with objective to protect the interest of the policy holder. The broker needs to adhere to the code of conduct as stated in the regulations in his dealing with the enterprise and keep the individual or enterprise posted of compliance of these regulations. 

2. Broker’s Subject Expertise.

   1. Qualification of the Broker’s Advisory Team
      1. Statutory – Qualified Insurance Broker – National Insurance Academy, Pune. Broker 
      2. Subject Matter - Associate or Fellow of insurance institute of India and other global insurance institutes like Chartered Insurance Institute of London.
   2. Insurance Industry Exposure.

3. Broker's Organizational Structure  It is imperative to understand the organizational structure of the insurance broker whether it is a Sales Company or a Consultancy. it is recommended to always look for brokerage firm who operate like consultancy rather than sales companies due to the following reasons.

   1. Sales Structure -
      1. the prime focus is on the premium cheque as there is a sales target/budget to be achieved. 
      2. junior most resource in the sales structure would be in the frontline interacting with the enterprise though there would be lot of subject matter experts on the top management.
      3. high level of attrition/turn over would result in the broker and resources not focusing on continued education from professional insurance institutes and in house mentoring by the subject matter experts.
   2. Consultancy - 
      1. ​the prime focus is on giving the right advise to the enterprise. 
      2. only senior subject matter resources who are more sensitive to regulations would interact with the enterprise.
      3. very low attrition ensures that these resources pursue continued education from professional insurance institutes and get exposed in house mentoring from subject matter experts and peers.

4. Broker’s Multimodal interactive Platforms for Clients.

5. Broker’s Commitment on

   1. Response & Turn around Time.
   2. Values & Service Assurance.
   3. Code of conduct as per IRDA Regulation.
   4. Escalation Procedures in case of any grievance.