Business
By Anthony Isibor
INCREASING Insurance penetration in Nigeria through improved customer satisfaction was the focus of the roundtable discussion organized by Insurance and Pension Editors of Nigeria, IPEN, in Lagos on Thursday, November 23, 2023.
Speaking on the theme of the event: Consumer Satisfaction, Key To Insurance and Pension Sectors Growth, Takor Ivor, Director, Centre for Pension Rights Advocacy, CPRA, espoused on the supremacy of consumers.
According to him, the “Consumer is King” and must be treated as such.
Ivor, who was represented by Anthony Kore, explained that insurance as well as pension companies are all involved in retail businesses, selling their products to end-users, thus to gain acceptance of the industry, they must meet consumer expectations and ensure that consumers are satisfied.
Ivor noted that there are three important things that every supplier of goods or services must know and they are:
1. Consumers have demands.
2. Consumers have a choice.
3. Consumers have rights.
“When consumers are satisfied, business will boom,” he said.
He urged the leaders in both insurance and pension industries to rethink, redefine and transform what their teams deliver and how this is delivered to ensure improved inside-led decision making, so that insurers and PFAs can exploit market opportunities in a strategic, safe and informed way.
“Building an inclusive culture for service delivery has to be deliberate.
“Modern consumers, seek brands that actively listen and appreciate them. Neglecting this aspect risk loyalty loss to competitors. For the PFAs, the transfer window has been opened and Retirement Savings Accounts, RSAs, are transferring their accounts from one PFA to another.
“Insurance policyholders have grown to expect the same simple, seamless and positive interactions with their insurers that they experience with every other aspect of their lives. If those expectations are not met they will quickly move on. The stakes of consumers’ loyalty and retention are high in the insurance industry as they are in the pension industry.
“In the insurance industry, the fact that I used Insurance company A for my vehicle license this year does not place me under any obligation to continue with the same company the following year.
Also speaking at the event, Chuks Udo Okonta, President, IPEN revealed that the Nigerian insurance industry has remained largely untapped.
According to him, the N1 trillion Premium income target expected by the industry in the current 2023 financial year, is a feat that was expected to have been achieved 8 years ago, precisely in 2015, the pension funds asset in the kitty of the pension sector are expected to surpass N18 trillion by the end of the outgoing year.
“Yes, these are and will be great achievements, however, they were long overdue as this is barely scratching the surface of potentials and opportunities that are existing in both sectors.
Okonta adduced the slow growth in the industry and poor insurance penetration in Nigeria to several reasons, including the country’s peculiar market environment, limited public awareness and negative public perception by those who are unaware of insurance.
He, however, added that in the reality, inadequate service delivery is a major challenge to why insurance acceptance has been very low.
“On the other hand, the need for service delivery in the pension sector is key for the overall success of and sustainability of the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, considering its retail nature. Achieving service excellence in the sector is a collective effort by all stakeholders to ensure enhanced service delivery.
He added that this became the reason for the theme of this roundtable discussion by IPEN to enable experts from the insurance and pension sectors as well as relevant stakeholders, including consumer groups to deliberate extensively.
However, Susie Onwuka, a representative of consumer protection commission during the panel discussion opined that most of the complaints received by the commission, from insurance policy holders, bothers mostly on lack of adequate disclosure from insurance companies, on policies sold to would be clients.
She added that bureaucracy in accessing claims, Rigidity of policy, and non compensation for policy holders, whom had paid their premiums for years, but failed to conclude the duration of his/her policy, amongst others were some of the reasons for the poor perception of the industry by Nigerians
Onwuka therefore called on players in the industry to urgently address the knowledge gap by making full disclosure at the point of sale.
In attendance where stakeholders who cut across Regulators, Insurance/Pension Operators, Insurance Agents, and Advocacy groups.
A.
-Nov. 24, 2023 @ 14:45 GMT |
Tags: Anthony Isibor Anthony Kore Chuks Udo Okonta IPEN Susie Onwuka Takor Ivor
