Why we don’t want multiple co-insurers in our business – Loss Adjusters

Members of the Institute of Loss Adjusters of Nigeria (ILAN) have lamented the complexity of recovering their evaluation fees when multiple co-insurers are involved in businesses contracts.

According to them, they said when multiple co-insurers are involved it becomes difficult for loss adjusters to recover their fees after an evaluation work.

Shamsideen Femi Hassan, immediate past president of ILAN said it has approached the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) to let its members realize the difficulty adjusters go through to recover their debts.

Hassan said, during my tenure, “ILAN paid a courtesy visit to NCRIB. At the meeting, ILAN President sought the assistance of members of the NCRIB in reducing the long list of co-insurers on some accounts, with some insurance companies holding as low as 0.5 percent share, considering attendant difficulty being experienced in recovering loss adjusters’ fees and expenses incurred in course of the claim evaluation process”.

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He said it is either because of the resultant small amount involved or the long list of coinsurers with the majority of them in doubtful financial positions which has culminated in huge unpaid debts over the years.”

According to Hassan, the NCRIB leadership promised to convey their prayers to the larger body of insurance brokers with a request for their cooperation in reducing the challenges so posed to the fortune of loss adjusters.

Business Day had reported that the nation’s insurance industry faces an imminent shortage of loss adjusters if issues related to low payment scale and delayed payments from underwriters are not resolved.

Investigations further reveal that the loss adjusting profession charged with the responsibility of ascertaining the extent of loss suffered by an insured and the recommendation of a proper sum of indemnity is steadily being eroded from the domestic insurance industry as its members are being hit hard by poor revenues resulting from their low payment scale compared with their international counterparts and the huge debts owed them by underwriting companies.

The implication of this development is that the loss adjusting firms have become less sustainable, inability to pay quality remuneration, manpower shortage and increasingly less attractive to the younger generation of job seekers.

Analysts fear that if the loss adjusting profession in Nigeria is completely eroded, it would cost local underwriting firms and the country huge foreign exchange to secure loss adjusting services from other markets.