The National Insurance Commission has committed to ensuring that it remains keen on providing insurance policyholders with the requisite service through the introduction of the Complaints Management System (CMS).
The online system is designed for policyholders to gain access to the regulator [NIC] to enhance client satisfaction in the insurance industry which is a major determinant in the growth and development of the insurance business in Ghana.
Acting Commissioner of the NIC, Michael Kofi Andoh said the system is designed to afford insurance policyholders, regardless of geographical location, the opportunity to access the regulator by a click of the button on the mobile phone handset or any digital device.
“The objective is to enhance fair customer treatment through an automated, seamless, interactive and easy process that allows the public to have real time access to the NIC without physically being present at any of its offices across the country. The CMS has since gone live on 1st of February, 2024 and has already had traction and response from the public and the insurance industry,” he said at the launch of the system in Accra.
The Acting Commissioner of Insurance also called on insurance companies to have systems in place to attend to clients’ needs.
“This will definitely result in ultimate client satisfaction and trust among members of the insuring public. When people lodge their complaints and they don’t hear anything [from insurance companies], we don’t tell them anything, they go and come, some of them travel from their villages and come every day and they don’t seem to get any response from anybody, and you see, it gives us such a bad image” he bemoaned.
He also indicated that notwithstanding the introduction of the CMS, policyholders can go to someone high-up in the particular insurance company for the needed attention to be paid to them.
Chairman of Insurance Awareness Coordinators’ Group (IACG), Wilson Tei on his part stated that most of the complaints made by insurance policyholders are minor issues which could have been resolved easily if such complaints got to higher levels of insurance companies rather than leaving customer service in the hands of front desk officers.
“This trend therefore undermines the quality of service that insurance companies are supposed to provide,” Wilson noted.
Meanwhile, the CMS is a web-based system which can be accessed through the official website of the National Insurance Commission www.nicgh.org or www.niccomplaintshub.com.
After a complaint is submitted, a complainant receives a system-generated text message containing a ticket number. Complainants will have real time notification of the stage of their claims and complaint through the system.