Daily Times

KARACHI: The office of the Federal Insurance Ombudsman (FIO) has received 839 complaints during the period of 2015-16 against more than 40 private insurance companies for the settlement of claims.

Most of the complaints have been made against the Jubilee Life Insurance Company, according to the FIO annual report 2015-16. According to the details, the FIO has received the highest number of complaints against Jubilee Life Insurance comprising to 130, out of the total of 839 complaints.

According to the insurance analysts the number of complaints may have been much more than number of complaints lodged so far. Lack of awareness about the role of and existence of the office of FIO is the one of the reasons of fewer complaints, despite steps taken by the Ombudsman’s office to create awareness among policyholders. However, the public sector insurance company, State Life Insurance Corporation, does not fall in the ambit of FIO, which should be brought under it via legislation.

The FIO gave monetary relief to parties to the amount of Rs 410 million in the year under review against the cumulative claim amount of all complaints which stood at Rs 1.8 billion. The FIO disposed off 465 complaints out of a total of 839, while 367 claims are still in process and 49 complaints were rejected.

During the year 2015-16, 35 representations were forwarded to the president of Pakistan for settlement out of which 27 were decided, while in rest of the 20 cases the orders of FIO were upheld by the president.

It is pertinent to mention that the institution of FIO plays important role to redress grievances of policyholders, who fall victims of insurance companies and their agents. The gradual awareness about the FIO is yielding results which is evident from the fact that in year 2015; 120 percent more cases were lodged in comparison to the previous year , while the number has increased to 200 percent in 2016.

Presently the FIO is offering its services in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. However, more offices are being considered in other cities of the country. The prime role of the FIO is to resolve dispute pertaining to maladministration, between insurance company and its policyholders. The FIO offers inexpensive speedy resolutions within 60 days.

FIO exercises full autonomy and its orders can not be challenged under the ordinance, the institution is specialized in insurance matters. Analysts stress for brining the State Life Insurance corporation under the ambit of FIO since there are wide spread complaints against the organisation from the policy holders about its mishandling and maladministration to its customers. This would enable the policyholders of the public sector insurance companies to also benefit.