Brokers intend to establish a forum

TJIPENANDJAMBI KUHANGASEVERAL insurance brokers plan to start a forum that will represent them with the hope of having insurance companies listen and attend to their grievances.

The group met last week in Windhoek to discuss how they would go about establishing this forum.

According to the brokers, there is currently no association or organisation which represents them, especially with regards to the challenges they encounter with insurance companies.

“We came up with the plan to create the Namibia Brokers Forum so that we organise ourselves in the form of an organisation to represent ourselves,” said Benet Namaseb, the founder of Benet Insurance Brokers.

They said because they operate in a financial sector, anything can happen, and nobody should be left out. It is thus important for them to also have a voice that will speak on their behalf.

The group further urged all the brokers in Namibia to join them in dealing with most of the problems they are faced with, through this forum, adding that they generate revenue for insurance companies, but they are not respected.

“Those companies do not respect us because we don’t have anyone to protect us against them,” said Piet Shaanika, the founder of Piet Frazer Insurance Brokers.

Another broker said they would have contracts with insurance companies, but their interests are not considered, while the contract favour those companies, giving them the mandate to do whatever they want with the brokers.

Therefore, establishing a forum such as this will help the brokers to be organised and have better representation, according to the group members.

Another broker added that they have really been suffering for quite a long time as whenever a contract is drafted, it is always in favour of the drafter. However, through the forum, they will be able to share their problems with each other, and see how they could go about resolving them.

Theo Mokwena, the founder of Leras Insurance Brokers, reiterated that there is a lot of disrespect from insurance companies towards brokers.

“Everything is just one-sided; it is always about them, and not about us (the brokers). So, in most cases, they would never look into our interest, but only those of the clients, forgetting that we are the ones who have brought these clients to them,” he stressed.

Most of the brokers claimed there is no fairness in this industry, and they thus believe that once they are united, they will always achieve something.

Mokwena added that if there is anything the companies would like to discuss, they should do it with the representatives of this forum, which will unite brokers, making insurance companies listen to them.

The fact that there is no other representation such as this in Namibia makes them optimistic that the forum will be a great success.

Another of their complaints was that they are investigated without a proper hearing, and then at the end of the day, they are notified that their contract is terminated, the brokers said.

Responding to questions from The Namibian, corporate communications manager at the Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority (Namfisa), Victoria Muranda, said they currently don’t approve forums or associations which are formed by insurance market participants.

She added that Namfisa is nonetheless responsible for approving insurance brokers’ operations in terms of the Short and Long-term Insurance Act.

“Namfisa is mandated to regulate and supervise individual and corporate brokers,” Muranda said.

Figures until the end of June 2018 indicate that there are 523 people in the short-term insurance space, and 694 insurance brokers in the life insurance space.

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