Insurance brokers are a type of insurance intermediaries available in the market to source insurance businesses on behalf of the insurance companies. Insurance brokers are regulated by the Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority of India as per the Insurance brokers regulations, 2018. These regulations are called the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Insurance Brokers) Regulations, 2018.
Risk Management: Insurance brokers are the only intermediaries who provide risk management services to the customers. Insurance brokers assess the risk portfolio of the customers and suggest the best risk management solutions. Insurance brokers will help the customers identify the risks and the necessary steps to be taken to minimize the risks.
Insurance brokers are the experts in providing risk management solutions to their customers and are legally liable for any deficiency in services. Customers can sue the insurance brokers for any deficiency in services provided to them in terms of risk management practices.
Negotiation and Placement: Insurance brokers are the best negotiators in the insurance marketplace. Insurance brokers have no restriction on the number of interactions with the insurance companies, they can interact with any number of insurance companies in the market and get quotes from them.
Since the insurance brokers interact with more than one insurance company they have the edge over the insurance companies and try to negotiate hard to reduce the premium for the customer. Insurance brokers place the business with the insurance company after the negotiations are done and the premium is collected from the customer. Insurance brokers deal with large premium numbers and therefore have a say during the negotiation with an insurance company.
A bridge between the insurer and insured: Insurance brokers act as a bridge between the insurance company and the customer. The insurance broking companies are the face of the customers as they analyze the risk portfolio of the customers and suggest the best risk management practices to mitigate the risk. Insurance brokers clearly know what kind of insurance to be taken for what kind of risk.
In addition to this, the insurance brokers are also legally liable for any deficiency in services provided by them to the customers. Customers can depend on the brokers completely for all their insurance requirements and in times of claim settlement and other endorsements, customers can directly approach the insurance brokers so that the work is done immediately.
Claim settlement: Insurance brokers show their expertise and upper hand at the time of claim settlement. There are certain add-ons provided by the insurance brokers which are not provided by any other insurance intermediaries in the market. For instance, Ethika insurance broking has a red carpet claim assistance program in which the end-to-end claim settlement process which involves the coordination of various parties such as hospitals, employers, TPA, etc will be taken care of by the insurance broker.
By providing this service the insured customer can spend their energy and time elsewhere to generate the required result. Claim settlement would be taken care of by the insurance broker and even the process would be expedited if necessary.
After-sales service: Insurance brokers also provide after-sales services such as Endorsement in existing insurance policies, and addition, and deletions of members in the group health insurance policy. In addition to this, the Ethika insurance broking provides certain additional services such as an employee engagement program, employee happiness program, etc. Which helps in improving the mental and physical well-being of the employees.