President Alvi calls for greater transparency in the insurance sector to increase public investments

KARACHI, Feb 15 (SABAH): President Dr. Arif Alvi has emphasized the need for bringing greater transparency in the bank insurance sector as it would increase the quantum of public investments, thereby strengthening the economy. He added that good insurance and banking products would enhance the trust of the people in the “bankassurance” sector and bring increased liquidity to the economy.

President Dr. Arif Alvi made these remarks during the conference titled “Transparency in Bancassurance and Role of Ombudsman” organised by the Federal Insurance Ombudsman (FIO), at Governor House, Karachi. The event was attended by the Federal Banking Ombudsman, Kamran Shahzad, Federal Insurance Ombudsman, Khawar Jameel, Muhammad Hussain Hirji, Chairman Insurance Association of Pakistan, officials and representatives from the banking and insurance industry.

Speaking on the occasion, the President said that it was the duty of the state to provide a regulatory framework to the banking and insurance industry to bring growth and transparency. He called upon the insurance industry to improve checks and balances and filtering mechanisms to conduct due diligence before the issuance of insurance policies to policyholders, besides honouring insurance claims in a timely and transparent manner.

President Dr. Arif Alvi further said that there was a great need of strengthening the insurance sector, and stressed the need to take steps towards further enhancing the contribution of the Insurance sector to the GDP of the country. He said that the share of the insurance sector in Pakistan’s economy was less than 1% whereas, in other regional countries, it was around 3%.

The President said that the insurance sector can offer profitable products for the general public to incentivize savings by individuals for profitable investments and to support the economy simultaneously. He also called for moving the money parked in the real estate sector to other productive sectors of the economy to keep the wealth of the nation in circulation. New products like crop insurance and social insurance should be introduced in the wake of the current climatic situation, he added.

While stressing the need for bringing transparency, the President said that accurate information about the insurance policies should be provided to people at the time of selling the policy to build people’s trust in insurance products and services. He further said that best practices should be adopted by the salesforce of the insurance and banking sector to win the trust of the clientele through fair play.

Speaking on the occasion, Khawar Jameel, the Federal Insurance Ombudsman, apprised the audience about the performance and growth of the organization. He said that during the last year, monetary relief to the tune of Rs. 2.57 billion had been provided to the complainants. This has been achieved through amicable dispute resolution and an effective complaint redressal system at FIO, he added.

Earlier, the President also distributed the cheques among the complainants who got their insurance disputes resolved through Federal Insurance Ombudsman.