Intermediaries nominate top insurance companies

Arnold van der Linde, President of the FIA

The 2009 Financial Intermediaries Association’s (FIA) Industry Recognition Awards ceremony takes place on Thursday, 21 May at the Sandton Convention Centre.

Introduced in 1998 and a highlight on the financial services industry calendar, the event pays tribute to those insurance product providers who receive favourable ratings in the FIA’s annual intermediary satisfaction benchmark survey. The FIA’s Industry Recognition Awards see intermediaries and insurers acknowledging one another’s roles as they meet the needs of individuals and companies throughout South Africa.

Conducted by independent research specialists Bluestream Consulting for the fourth consecutive year, the initiative affords intermediaries the opportunity to rank insurance companies according to product quality, service quality, quality of relationships and overall satisfaction.

Top-performing insurance product providers are rated according to the following categories:

- Short-Term: corporate, personal lines and commercial;

- Life/Risk: life insurance and investment;

- Healthcare; and

- Employee Benefits (a new category which was added in 2009).

Says Arnold van der Linde, President of the FIA: “Prior to the publication of the final research results, the methodology used by Bluestream Consulting to determine the best product providers undergoes external academic review by doctors in research and statistics. The awards add value to the industry by providing benchmark best practice statistics for intermediary satisfaction. Furthermore, participating in the survey provides a platform for intermediaries to rank their interactions with insurance companies and in so doing, encourage healthy competition among providers.”

FIA members currently act as intermediaries for more than 80 percent of all short-term insurance and 40 percent of financial planning business in South Africa. The association represents thousands of financial services intermediaries, of which more than 10 percent were included in the survey.

The outcome of the research was based on the evaluation of 4 300 insurance contracts.