September 11, 2020: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Insurance Division has issued a clarification with respect to the Circular No. 27 of 2020.
The Insurance Ordinance, 2000 (the “Ordinance”) provides a comprehensive framework for addressing complaints of the policyholders against the respective insurance companies.
Three forums, which are independent from the SECP, are available under the Ordinance comprising of the Federal Insurance Ombudsman, Small Dispute Resolution Committees and Insurance Tribunals. For effective redress of policyholders’ complaints, it is important that policyholders are aware of the recourse available to them and SECP has undertaken efforts to ensure that policyholders are well aware of the complaint resolution forums. .
Over the years, SECP has observed that policyholders, without first approaching the respective insurers for settlement of their claims or resolution of their grievances, are directly filing their complaints with the SECP as well with other grievance handling forums. So, for bringing awareness among policyholders, SECP has issued Circular 27 of 2020 dated September 4, 2020 to ensure that policyholders, as a first step, approach the respective insurer for settlement of their claims and in case their claims are not settled or their grievances are not resolved, they may file their complaints with the Federal Insurance Ombudsman, Small Dispute Resolution Committees, Insurance Tribunals and SECP.
