By Menahill Rasheed
FAISALABAD: The annual insurance premium of Rs. 378 billion is just a peanut which is only 0.8% of GDP and we intend to enhance it up to 1.5%, said Federal Insurance Ombudsman Dr. Muhammad Khawar Jamil.
Addressing the business community in the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) here today, he said that insurance is of two types i.e., life and general insurance. He said that the Insurance Ombudsman was also receiving online complaints which were settled positively within 60 days. He said that in this connection regional offices of insurance ombudsman have been established in all provinces where competent and senior retired officers have been deputed as advisors and consultants. He said that he is preferring persuasion instead of prosecution to settle the insurance claims. He said that this strategy has yielded positive results as financial relief of Rs. 2.13 billion was given during 2020 as compared to the claims of Rs. 410 million in 2019. He said that appeals against ombudsman decisions to the president of Pakistan have also reduced to zero because of this reconciliatory policy. He said that he had a very productive meeting with heads of insurance companies in which he stated that the claim amount is only one percent of their annual premium of Rs. 150 billion, hence they should not create hurdles in its expeditious payments. He said that the Performa’s for bank accounts and insurance policies are being simplified and in this connection legal experts have been deputed to pinpoint ten major points only and this per Performa should be bi-lingual so that an ordinary applicant could fully understand its contents before signing it. He assured that an ombudsman desk would be established in FCCI on the pattern of Lahore.
Earlier Engineer Hafiz Ihtasham Javed President FCCI briefly introduced Faisalabad and FCCI and said that it was playing a key role in national exports. He also pointed out the problems faced by the insurance claimants and said that the Ombudsman should establish its desk in FCCI to redress the genuine complaints of the FCCI members.
A question-answer session was also held that was attended by Syed Zia Alamdar Hussain and other executive members. Later Engineer Hafiz Ihtasham Javed presented FCCI shield to Insurance Ombudsman Dr. Muhammad Khawar Jamil while Vice President Ayub Aslam Manj offered vote of thanks.
