Chapter 1467
Chapter 1467
Chapter 1467
Ltd
PART-1
Information About Insurance.
Insurance
Insurance is a system by which a risk is transferred by a person, business, or organization to an insurance
company, which reimburses the insured for covered losses and provides for sharing the costs of losses among all insured.
Risk, transfer, and sharing are vital elements of insurance.
Insurance people are no longer in the business of forming fire brigades to put out fires at members homes, as they did
centuries ago. But the idea of combining resources to protect against loss is still basic to the insurance business.
Insurance companies are now financial institution. They sell insurance policies to protect people against financial
hardship caused by accidental losses. The insurance company is an insurer. A person, business, or organization that is
covered, or insured, by an insurance policy is referred to as an insured.
To purchase an insurance policy and became an insured, an insurance buyer pays a insurance fee, called an insurance
premium, to the insurance company. To keep the insurance policy in effect, the insured pays more premiums at periodic
intervals.
The insurance company pools these premiums to form a fund from which those insured who suffer losses- unfortunate
victims of fires, vehicle accidents, earthquakes, and so on can be reimbursed. Each insured pays a relatively small
amount into the poll. These relatively small premiums, added together, develop a sizable fund from which payments are
made to compensate the insured who have losses. In this way, for a reasonable cost, each insured can be sure that a loss
will not cause undue financial hardship.
RISK
TRANSFER
SHARING
Types of Insurance
There are two types of insurance
1) Life insurance
2) Non life insurance
Life insurance
Loss of a family member is a catastrophe which glooms a familys life. But even more tragic is the death of a sole bread
earner for the family, who then has to go through the pain of losing their loved one, as well as the financial loss putting
their survival in jeopardy. This financial hardship due to a sudden death of a family member or a disability resulting to a
loss of job or inability to work can be avoided to a great extent by taking up a life insurance policy. A Life insurance or
disability insurance covers such losses and pays a family, compensation to restore the earnings lost by them due to a
sudden death or disability. The monthly premiums for a life insurance are generally based upon the age, health, and
occupation information of the applicant, in addition to the total benefits to be paid to him for his policy.
Non-life insurance
Non life insurance or General Insurance is a form of insurance mainly concerned with protecting the policyholder from
loss or damage caused by specific risks. Examples includeProperty/Casualty Insurance, Health/ Disability Insurance
,Business/ Commercial Insurance
General insurance
Health care insurance
General insurance
General insurance or non-life insurance policies, including automobile and homeowners policies, provide payments
depending on the loss from a particular financial event. General insurance typically comprises any insurance that is not
determined to be life insurance. It is called property andCasuality insurance
Achaemenian monarchs were the first to insure their people and made it official by registering the insuring process in
governmental notary offices. The insurance tradition was performed each year in Norouz (beginning of the Iranian New
Year); the heads of different ethnic groups as well as others willing to take part, presented gifts to the monarch. The most
important gift was presented during a special ceremony. When a gift was worth more than 10,000 Derrik (Achaemenian
gold coin) the issue was registered in a special office. This was advantageous to those who presented such special gifts.
For others, the presents were fairly assessed by the confidants of the court. Then the assessment was registered in special
offices.
The purpose of registering was that whenever the person who presented the gift registered by the court was in trouble,
the monarch and the court would help him. Jahez, a historian and writer, writes in one of his books on ancient Iran:
"[W]henever the owner of the present is in trouble or wants to construct a building, set up a feast, have his children
married, etc. the one in charge of this in the court would check the registration. If the registered amount exceeded 10,000
Derrik, he or she would receive an amount of twice as much."[1]A thousand years later, the inhabitants of Rhodes
invented the concept of the 'general average'. Merchants whose goods were being shipped together would pay a
proportionally divided premium which would be used to reimburse any merchant whose goods were jettisoned during
storm or sinkage
The Greeks and Romans introduced the origins of health and life insurance c. 600 AD when they organized guilds called
"benevolent societies" which cared for the families and paid funeral expenses of members upon death. Guilds in the
Middle Ages served a similar purpose. The Talmud deals with several aspects of insuring goods. Before insurance was
established in the late 17th century, "friendly societies" existed in England, in which people donated amounts of money
to a general sum that could be used for emergencies.
Separate insurance contracts (i.e., insurance policies not bundled with loans or other kinds of contracts) were invented in
Genoa in the 14th century, as were insurance pools backed by pledges of landed estates. These new insurance contracts
allowed insurance to be separated from investment, a separation of roles that first proved useful in marine insurance.
Insurance became far more sophisticated in post-Renaissance Europe, and specialized varieties developed.
Toward the end of the seventeenth century, London's growing importance as a centre for trade increased demand for
marine insurance. In the late 1680s, Mr. Edward Lloyd opened a coffee house that became a popular haunt of ship
owners, merchants, and ships captains, and thereby a reliable source of the latest shipping news. It became the meeting
place for parties wishing to insure cargoes and ships, and those willing to underwrite such ventures. Today, Lloyd's of
London remains the leading market (note that it is not an insurance company) for marine and other specialist types of
insurance, but it works rather differently than the more familiar kinds of insurance.Insurance as we know it today can be
traced to the Great Fire of London, which in 1666 devoured 13,200 houses. In the aftermath of this disaster, Nicholas
Barbon opened an office to insure buildings. In 1680, he established England's first fire insurance company, "The Fire
Office," to insure brick and frame homes.
The first insurance company in the United States underwrote fire insurance and was formed in Charles Town (modernday Charleston), South Carolina, in 1732. Benjamin Franklin helped to popularize and make standard the practice of
insurance, particularly against fire in the form of perpetual insurance. In 1752, he founded the Philadelphia
Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire. Franklin's company was the first to make contributions
toward fire prevention. Not only did his company warn against certain fire hazards, it refused to insure certain buildings
where the risk of fire was too great, such as all wooden houses. In the United States, regulation of the insurance industry
is highly Balkanized, with primary responsibility assumed by individual state insurance departments. Whereas insurance
markets have become centralized nationally and internationally, state insurance commissioners operate individually,
until the insurance contract proper was recognized and accepted.The earliest insurers were merchants underwriting risks
for fellow merchants, on a part time basis. Until the 1800-1900s premiums were not determined by statistics kept etc.
as in the modern sense, but was often arrived at as a result of haggling.The contract of insurance was not created as a
result of judicial or legislative innovation, but by the merchants themselves as a result of commercial expediency and
need (Necessity being the mother of invention).Early legislation was passed to counteract fraud or malpractices
Reinsurance
Reinsurance is a means by which an insurance company can protect itself against the risk of losses with other
insurance companies. Individuals and corporations obtain insurance policies to provide protection for various risks
(hurricanes, earthquakes, lawsuits, collisions, sickness and death, etc.). Reinsurers, in turn, provide insurance to
insurance companies.Insurers take out their own insurance - this is called reinsurance. When you look at the risks that
insurers take on, it is not surprising that they. Insurers take out their own insurance - this is called reinsurance.When you
look at the risks that insurers take on, it is not surprising that they themselves might want to have insurance. When
insurers insure a risk again, it is called reinsurance. A third of all business carried out at Lloyds is reinsurance.
Reinsurance is an extension of the concept of insurance, in that it passes on part of the risk for which the original insurer
is liable. Reinsurance contracts are slightly more specialist than insurance contracts but for most part they work in
exactly the same way it is just that the insured is another insurer, known as the reinsured (See The Basics of
Insurance for an explanation of how insurance contracts work). A contract of reinsurance is between the insurer and
reinsurer only and legally there is no direct link between the original insured and any reinsurer. The original insurer is
still the one who must pay any claim from the insured the insurer must then make its own separate claim against the
reinsurer. Reinsurance is important for a number of reasons, including:
To protect against large claims. For example, in the case of a fire in a large oil refinery or a large city hit by an
earthquake, insurers will spread the risk by reinsuring part of what they have agreed to insure with other reinsurers so
that the loss is not so severe for any one insurer.
To avoid undue fluctuations in underwriting results. Insurers want to ensure a balanced set of results each year
without peaks and troughs. They can therefore get reinsurance which will cover them against any unusually large
losses. This keeps a cap on the claims the insurer is exposed to having to pay itself.
To obtain an international spread of risk. This is important when a country is vulnerable to natural disasters and an
insurer is heavily committed in that country. Insurance may be reinsured to spread the risk outside the country.
To increase the capacity of the direct insurer. Sometimes insurers want to insure a risk but are not able to do so on
their own. By using reinsurance, the insurer is able to accept the risk by insuring the whole risk and then reinsuring the
part it cannot keep for itself to other reinsurers.Like the direct insurance market, reinsurance usually involves specialist
brokers who have expert knowledge of the market and access to reinsurance underwriters on behalf of their clients
Number (Million)
2.04
1.93
1.85
1.80
1.81
Percentage (%)
Base Index
112
106
102
099
100
Rolling Index
106
104
103
99
100
Source: Extracted and calculated from: Annual Report 2005, State Life Insurance Corporation of
Pakistan, P. 61.
The above box presents a statistical analysis. It shows how slow is the progress and how big is the
potential. Following conclusions can be drawn:
Annual average growth in the above five years has been 2.4%.
Rolling Index presents a sharper analysis and is a wake up call for an aggressive marketing strategy.
A breakthrough is needed to ensure quantum jump in number of individual life policies.
To accomplish the objectives of SLIC, a bold marketing approach is needed to Widen areas of
operations of life insurance for common man and in towns and villages.
There is a need to revisit the declared Objectives of SLIC and initiate a self analysis. A Stakeholders
Conference may be held to help SLIC to achieve its objectives.
Insurance culture as a Way of Life needs to be cultivated through a market driven approach. Synergy
can be created through seminars, workshops, insurance fairs, puncturing fears of potential policy
holders and undertaking all steps which would ensure success of the cause of making insurance a
Way of Life.
Qualitative and quantitative analysis of existing training courses for field orientation be undertaken
for improvement.
A strategic plan for Manpower Development, Department of SLIC is the crying need of today.
Leading Universities in Pakistan must start BBA (Hons) four years and MBA two years and Executive
MBA two years program. Hailey College of Banking & Finance, the 5th Constituent College of the
The Ministry of Commerce, Government of Pakistan, under the able leadership of Mr. Humayun
Akhtar, is ever keen to develop a strong infrastructure for insurance education in Pakistan. It is hoped
that some announcements in this respect will be made in the forthcoming Trade Policy for 2007-08 to
be announced in July 2007.
Number (Million)
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
3.73
3.90
3.63
3.44
3.30
Percentage (%)
Base Index
113
118
111
104
100
Rolling Index
96
106
107
104
100
Source: Extracted and calculated from: Annual Report 2005, State Life Insurance
Part-4
Departments of Company
Organizations Hierarchy
Chairman
Board of Directors
Joint General
Manager
Manager
Shares &
Investment
General Manager
Manager
Marketing &
Development
Deputy
Manager
Claim
Deputy
Manager
Reinsurance
Human
Resource
Manager
Senior
Manager
Underwriting
Manager
Administratio
n
Manager
Accounts
&
Finance
MIS
Manager
Departments Hierarchy
Chief Manager
Assistant Manager
Recruitment process
Motivation functions
Annual increments
Outstanding performance increments
The best employee of the year award
Job rotation
Underwriting Department
The underwriting department of the Company is the most significance department, as for any other insurance
organization engaged in providing insurance services & deals with customers queries and provides the
protection according the insureds satisfaction and tranquility with coverage of suitable risk. The underwriting
department is considered as the backbone of an insurance company who either can accelerate the profitable
figures in premium income with the cooperation of its marketing and development department staff or can
enhance the companys liability with the procurement of erroneous risk. The Underwriting department of Silver
Star Insurance Company is engaged in the class of general insurance of Fire, Marine, Motor, Miscellaneous and
Bond.The underwriting department issues the policies after careful evaluation of associated risks which comes
for coverage; its the duty of the Underwriting department to examine the risk and take all precautionary steps
for evaluation before issuing policies / cover notes which the companys management has determined.The top
level management has established overall underwriting plans and strategies, and the underwriting department is
responsible to follow and develop specific guidelines to cope with the policy and strategy formed and
implemented by the top level management of the company. With board strategy and specific directives aligned,
the department executes the risk selection and risk pricing process. The department also keeps in mind all of the
underwriting elements before designing and pricing an insurance cover note.
Departments Hierarchy
Senior Manager
Manager
Deputy Manager
Assistant
Manager
Assistant
Manager
Assistant
Manager
Assistant
Manager
Assistant
Assistant
Assistant
Assistant
Some of the important objectives and strategies of the Underwriting department are given as
follows.
The management of the underwriting department seriously believes on the Fire insurance segment to
make it beneficial by reducing loss ratio, for this purpose the management of underwriting department
has been seized in the controversial and congested areas and aims at better risk management.
Apply the reasonable rates of premium on insurance services to be provided, keeping in view
competitive and current market situations.
Review of internal performance of underwriting department preferably on quarterly basis rather than
annually basis.
Management wants to increase Marine insurance business in import.
Decision on applying an insureds existing policy for a specific request for coverage.
Once the Underwriting department has decided that a risk is acceptable, it finally undertakes solid
steps to evaluate all risks.
Then it examines the authenticity of cover notes issued by marketers. It carefully examines the interest
rates written on the cover notes according to the tariff rates provided by the Insurance Association of
Pakistan. Then identify risks associated in each cover note and then classify as hazards or non-hazards.
It also ensures all warranties and clauses included in the cover note / policy. After this its responsibility
Claim Department
To all intents and purposes, the claim department also plays a very important role in an insurance company. It
does not matter how cheap an insurance companys premium are, or how efficiently they conduct their
underwriting administration if the claim is not properly and fairly dealt with. This is where an insurer is judged.
However an insurer has obligations to its policyholders, all of whom have contained the common pool from
which claims are paid. There are more interests than those of the individual claimant to be considered. For this
reason, the claimant has certain obligations that they have to meet before any settlement will be paid.
Departments Hierarchy
Deputy Manager
Assistant Manager
Assistant
Assistant
the Claim Department of SSICL. Claim Department is then checks the record of the insurance policy of the
particular claim and checks all the warrantees and clauses that have mentioned on the policy by considering the
report of the surveyors. When the policyholders claim is justifiable, the Claim Department of SSICL negotiates
with the claimant and settles the claim. If the loss is 100% then the claimant is given the entire sum insured, but
incase of partial loss, the claim department of SSICL compensate with the claimant only for the actual loss that
mention in the surveyors reports.
Departments Hierarchy
Manager
Assistant
Administration Department
Administration department of SSICL is responsible for:
Proper office working environment
Security measures
Attendance
Record of assets and properties
Arrangements of meetings
Stationery
Safe custody of Companys record
Departments Hierarchy
Deputy Manager
Dispatcher /
Assistant
Driver
2
Telephone
Operator
Security
Guards
2
Junior Officer
Driver
2
Driver
2
Departments Hierarchy
Chief Manager
Assistant Manager
Assistant
Assistant Manager
Assistant
Assistant
Compliance with the requirements of insurance ordinance, 2000 and insurance rules,
2000 there under.
Compliance with the requirements of the ordinance, 1984
Compliance with the requirements/directives of Securities and Exchange
Commission of Pakistan (or insurance department) applicable to the company.
Compliance with the requirements of taxation law applicable to the company.
Compliance with the requirements of central excise duty law applicable to the
company.
Compliance with the requirements of the federal insurance fee laws applicable to the
company.
Compliance and adoption of the requirements of international accounting standards.
These types of vouchers are prepared when the account officer on behalf of
the SSICL is receiving cash. However, these types of vouchers are small in
quantity because majority of transactions are done by bank. On receipt of
cash, he prepared the cash received slip & then prepared the prepared the
vouchers.
3) Bank Payment Vouchers
Premium vouchers are made by the officers of the particular branch of the
company. These vouchers include the information of the (gross premium,
stamp duty, Federal insurance fee, Central excise duty and the amount of
net premium etc.). When an officer of branch of SSICL received the
amount of premium it made the premium voucher. If the amount received
by the agent was in the form of cash or cheque then he deposited the
amount of premium in the bank account of the company and attached the
deposit slip with the premium voucher and sent it to the companys head
office with a letter.
7) Ledger Posting
Part-6
Internship Activities (Work done by Me)
Work Done by Me
I worked for six weeks at askari general Insurance Company Limited, Lahore, as an internee. I
was placed in almost all departments of company and studied the whole organization, but I got a
chance to do some practical work in the Underwriting Department,Claim Department and Finance
& Accounts Department. This helps me a lot in preparing the internship report and the analysis of
the company and remarked about the company on the basis of my studied and analysis of the
financial statements and overall review of the company. Even though six weeks training is a very
short period to lean about any organization but I gain a lot of knowledge due to cooperative staff.
Due to the internship now I am able to explore potential careers that will help me to
choose what profession is best for me. It was also better to learn that I dont want to
pursue a certain career path than after I have graduated .
Part-7
Findings & Recommendations
Findings
Askari general Insurance Company Limited is group based insurance company. That is providing
general insurance policies to its clients at the moments. During last couple of years, Company has
improved its performance up to great extend.
Companys claims & expense ratios are also drop significantly during the years due to the
better underwriting practices.
Company has developed the good contacts with the foreign reinsurance companies that
are of rating A.
Recommendations
As each and every organization have some flaws in its system, so as askari general insurance
company. In this regard I tried to discuss with the employees and top level management that what
are actions necessary for the Company to fill up these gaps. Each and every one of them had a
different point of view. For the improvement the Company and to overcome the gaps some are the
important steps that Company should take to enhance its performance.
For the promotion purposes Company should develop a better website that includes all
the information about insurance rates of different policies that company is offering.
Especially it should include the important step necessary for taking insurance policy and
it should also include the important procedure of insurance claims, so that all those
people can also get benefits from the companys services that are unaware of insurance
and hesitate to take insurance policies due to complexity of the procedure.
In order to get maximum premium and become a market leader, Company should focus a
diversified target market.
Human Resource is one of the important factors for the better performance of any
organization. In HR department of askari general insurance company those employees are
working that have no knowledge of related field, due to which the turnover ratio of the
employees is increasing. Company should focus to develop a proper Human Resource
Department.
To target the industrial sector Company should introduce life insurance policies,
especially group insurance policies. As each industry goes to that insurance company that
provide life insurance policies with the general insurance policies.