Kindly leave a comment and share
Chuks Udo Okonta
How would you feel when your insurer calls demanding your account numbers for a payment due to you because you didn’t make a claim over on a policy in a year? That great excitement, is what policyholders of Hilal Takaful Nigeria Limited enjoy from anytime they didn’t suffer a loss that might have lead to a claim.
Managing Director/CEO, Hilal Takaful Nigeria, Thaibat Adeniran, who spoke on how the firm is changing lives of policyholders through its products and services, when members of Insurance and Pension Editors of Nigeria (IPEN) paid a courtesy visit to the firm in Lagos, noted that policyholders are notified whenever surplus made in the year is ready for distribution.
According to her, policyholders are always excited to share out the surplus made, adding that the sharing of surplus makes takaful insurance distinct from the conventional underwriting practice.
Speaking on how surplus is determined, she said
at the end of a financial year, the external auditors examine the firm’s financial record, they look at the claim paid and the portfolios, stressing that surplus is treated par class of business.
“Fire is different from motor, motor is different from marine. So what we do is that we just pay in that way. It is only those that didn’t claim, for instance if you have six trucks and you claim on two, it means the remaining four, will earn you a surplus,” she said.
She maintained that before payments are made, details of beneficiaries are sent to National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) for approval.
She submitted that before the books are sent to the regulator, they are examined and vetted by the Advisory Council of Experts, who are
Islamic Clerics and Scholars, adding that they are like the eye of the insuring publics. so they make sure that the firm does not cheat the insuring publics neither do the insured cheat the firm.
“So, immediately they approved the accounts, we send them to the regulator and when it is approved, we progressed to paying the surpluses. At this point, we contact the policyholders and request for their accounts details and we credit the accounts. That what we have been doing and currently, we are working on the 2021 account which has just been concluded and 2022, the auditors are still working on the financial,” she poas
Before we can settle the regulator before we can talk of surplus but I know again for this year we will pay which is good one for whoever that is being with our portfolio.
Where do you get money to run business since share surplus?
Under Takaful law, we are fund managers the participants own the money and the law is that there be a certain percentage that should be kept for running of the business so that percentage will be taken out and kept in a pool that is why Takaful is more prudent. You don’t spend anyhow. So it is that one that will be used for our overhead and we work within certain percentage but if at the end of the year we did beyond what we targeted definitely we share from the extra, we share on the profits from the investment and equally from the surplus at the end of the year. That means we have something to back ourselves in the running of the affairs of the company. So this is how Takaful works.
Any complaints on Claims or Surplus payment?
For those for either surplus or claims. Currently we don’t have . The only thing you might hear is how far?, What is the update?
