Question
Evaluate the roles of the following intermediaries in an insurance contract
1 insurance broker
2 insurance agent
3 insurance loss adjuster
1 INSURANCE BROKER
A good insurance Broker is supposed to help you to understand and identify your needs, to look for the best insurance proposals meeting your personal requirements, to look after smooth adjustment of losses that might occur during the policy period.
Some insurance customer misunderstand the roles and responsibilities of Insurance Brokers and that of Agents. Although, their duties and responsibilities may look similar, but there are differences in their operations. In the eye of the law, the insurance brokers and agents are all regarded as agents but the two categories have distinct status and responsibilities. In general term, an agent is a person employed for a purpose of placing the principal in a contractual relationship with a third party. In other words, an agent is someone who acts for another in all those circumstances under which an agency can be assumed. Brokers on the other hand are a “go-between’ between the providers of insurance services, that is insurance and reinsurance companies and the consumers of such insurance services who are the insuring public.
Today, Insurance Brokers are universally recognized as insurance intermediaries employed to use their skills and expertise in arranging insurance protection in the very best interest of their clients who are the proposer or consumers. A Broker is presumed at law to have the necessary knowledge as well as ability to handle all his clients’ insurance problems and to advice the clients correctly and appropriately. Unlike insurance agent, who represents one insurance company, insurance Broker is independent and has access to many insurance companies, theoretically giving its clients the best coverage at the optimal price.
Insurance Brokers exist to assist clients in the following ways;
Risk Evaluation and Assessment
Advice on types of policies
Rendition of personalized insurance services and consultancies
Recommend and advice on the selection of Underwriters based on their strengths and weaknesses.
Clients Administration.
Ensuring prompt payment of claims
2 INSURSNCE AGENT
In general term, an agent is a person employed for a purpose of placing the principal in a contractual relationship with a third party. In other words, an agent is someone who acts for another in all those circumstances under which an agency can be assumed.
Insurance sales agents commonly sell one or more types of insurance, such as property and casualty, life, and health and long-term care. Property and casualty insurance agents sell policies that protect people and businesses from financial loss resulting from automobile accidents, fire, theft, and other events that can damage property. For businesses, property and casualty insurance also covers injured workers' compensation, product liability claims, or medical malpractice claims.
They can help you save money by showing how to bundle policies and take advantage of available discounts. And they provide you with unlimited professional advice and services for free, because they’re paid by your policy’s insurance carrier.
Insurance agent typically do the following roles
Call potential clients to expand their customer base
• Interview prospective clients to get data about their financial resources and discuss existing coverage
• Explain the features of various policies
• Analyze clients’ current insurance policies and suggest additions or changes
• Customize insurance programs to suit individual clients
• Do administrative tasks, such as keeping records and handling policy renewals
• Help policy holders settle claims
3 INSURANCE LOSS ADJUSTER
The loss adjuster is a representative of the insurance company. He’s an independent professional and his role is to help determine the extent of the insurance company’s liability for loss when a claim is submitted. Loss adjusters are guided by the practice and ethics of the business. In Nigeria, for instance, activities of loss adjusters are supervised by the National Insurance Commission and they have a professional body known as the Institute of Loss Adjusters of Nigeria (ILAN).
Look at the loss adjuster as the professional whose services come at the point of making a claim. So, while an insurance agent helps to sell the insurance company’s products, the loss adjuster helps the company to determine how much it should pay in the event of a loss. In both cases, the cost of engagement is borne by the insurance company, not you – the customer.
It is also necessary to add that you, the customer (policyholder), can appoint a loss adjuster to help determine how much you should be claiming from your insurance company. In that case, you will bear the cost of such engagement and your loss adjuster will be technically known as a “loss assessor,” as against “loss adjuster.”
By Abdulkadir Muhammad
Law student
REFERENCES
https://www.megainsights.com/the-insurance-loss-adjuster/ access 21 may 2017
http://www.einsurance.com/journal/what-does-an-insurance-agent-d/ access 21 may
201 https://www.sokanu.com/careers/insurance-sales-agent/7
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