Insurance intermediaries in the context of insurance are individual or entities that act as

intermediaries or a connect bridge between insurance companies and customers. They help
customers in understanding their insurance needs ,selecting appropriate insurance policies
and facilitating the purchase process. Intermediaries can include insurance agent and
insurance brokers who act on behalf of the principal who are generally insurance companies

Insurance agent are individuals who have legal relation ship to represent insurance
companies in a particular place on the matter concerning insurance business on behalf of
the principal who are the owner of the insurance companies

Insurance brokers are also insurance intermediaries who represent an insurance companies
or insurance principal on the matter concerning insurance products is an agent who does
not have possession of the goods at the time of sale all of them work together as
intermediaries to connect the insurance customers to the insurance companies in order to
provide better and quality service to the consumers of insurance policies but also to make
sure that the insurance companies are reaching their goals effectively.

Insurance intermediaries play some roles in providing Insurance service and few among reasonable
are such as to decide the best market in which to place the risk ,negotiate terms and conditions
initially and for mid terms changes, also to provide advice to the client regarding the details of the
policy wording, review client needs ,negotiate renewal insurance policies and advise the client on
the validity of claims ,to carry lawful instructions or directions of principal, to exercise reasonable
care and skills in performing his duties ,to render proper accounts to his principal on demand, to pay
for the money received for his principal, to handle properly received for his principal or any
belong ,to communicate to his principal in order to obtain instruction from the principal where
necessary.

The structure and the function of insurance intermediaries are vary according to the status of
particular intermediaries and the terms of the Business agreement with the insurance provider and
there is two types of intermediaries known as Authorized intermediaries and Exempt intermediaries
by Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

While intermediaries play an important role in insurance industry there have been cases of
malpractice associated with their actions which facilitate the decline of insurance industries
to prosper and reach their objectives of providing better and quality insurance services to
the insurance consumers. The following are some of the malpractice done by insurance
intermediaries in insurance industry as follow
.
Misrepresentation, one among the malpractice done by insurance intermediaries is the act
of doing Misrepresentation some time intermediaries may provide false or misleading
information to customers about insurance policies ,coverage or terms concerning insurance
policies and contracts as well in order to create awareness to the one who seek insurance
coverage and by doing that malpractice of Misrepresentation of some important
information to the insurance consumers can lead to customer purchasing policies that do
not meet their needs or provide the expected coverage and intermediaries may do
Misrepresentation accidentally or international in the reason of creating some gain of
benefit which are out of insurance policies and the terms and condition of the principal but
again he or she can do malpractice of Misrepresentation of some information accidentally
because of lack of some skills, knowledge and experience of the insurance professionalism .

Colluding with client to do un lawful acts ,this is another malpractice done by different
insurance intermediaries and in this malpractice intermediaries conspired with the
insurance client to engage in unlawful activities related to insurance. This can include
submitting fraudulent claims providing false information on insurance application or
engaging in other illegal activities to obtain undeserved benefits from insurance policies, for
example an insurance intermediaries may form a false claim with client concerning the
stolen of car of insured person although the true reality the car is not hidden instead and
the insurance companies pay the claims to the insured person without knowing that it was
not real claims and the insurance intermediaries got benefit and share with the person who
is being indemnify by insurance companies, so that is malpractice which bring down the
prosperity of insurance industries.

Coercing customers, also another malpractice done by insurance intermediaries is the 8luse
of coercive method in providing Insurance service to customers and simply this can be
defined as an act of using force ,pressure or manipulation to convince customers to buy
insurance services or products that they may not be necessary to buy for them and this is
one among the malpractice done by insurance intermediaries because it can contain some
false or fake information promises to the insured person and this is against the terms and
the conditions of insurance contract where there must be free consent of parties to come
up to the agreement of insurance contract without the use of force and this also bring about
the bad reputation of insurance consumers towards a particular insurance company which
facilitate decline of customers due to the act done by their intermediaries who are
insurance agents and insurance brokers.

Late or delay in banking premium collected, intermediaries are also responsible for
promptly depositing premium payment to the insurance company that he or she is working
on behalf of the principal,. However in case of malpractice intermediaries may intentionally
delay or fail to transfer the collected premium within the required time frame because of
different reasons for example an insurance intermediaries may use the money collected to
invest in his or her own benefit instead of deposit the sum of money collected to the
principal on time as a results the impact may be huge to the intermediaries himself or even
sometime the one who pay premium may not be considered by the principal and that can
lead to coverage gaps or policy cancelation for customers and that is another malpractice
which hinder the development of insurance business .

Doing an authorized activities, insurance intermediaries may engage in an authorized

activities which he or she does not instructed to perform by his or her principal for his or her
own benefits for example forging signature, altering policy documents or conduct different
business which is out of the insurance service provided by insurance companies but again
intermediaries may collect premium without remitting them to the insurance companies
and the results of doing this malpractice may be financial losses for both customers and
insurance companies as well in this case the insurance intermediaries is advised to act on
good faith to his or her principal in order to represent him or her in providing better and
quality service to the insurance consumers and by doing so he may facilitate the increase of
development of insurance industry in providing their services in simple way.

Presenting dishonoured cheques, dishonoured cheques are checks that are returned un
paid by the bank due to insufficient funds or other reasons .In this case malpractice
intermediaries may present dishonoured cheques as payment for insurance premiums
leading to customers believing that their payments were made to the insurance company
when in reality the parson who is responsible to present their money to the principal did
not do so and that led to the occupancy of miss understanding between the insured person
and the insurance companies but the origin of all this is the negligence of insurance
intermediaries who is responsible for present the premiums of all insured people on time
for renewal of their policies and continue of the coverage for encase of any loss or damage.

Back dating of cover notes ,a cover notes is a temporary document that provide insurance
coverage until the formal policy is issued ,Back dating refers to the practice of altering the
effective date of the cover note to make it appear as if coverage was in place before the
actual date ,intermediaries may engage in this malpractice to deceive customers or
manipulate policy terms for his or her own benefit or to help person who his insurance
coverage was already expired and he want to be compensated by the insurance companies
so person may collide with insurance intermediaries to back date the insurance policies to
look like it still active in order to help insured person to be indemnify but in real sense the
coverage policy has been expired.

Miss appropriations of premium collected ,this is another malpractice done by insurance

intermediaries which occur when insurance intermediaries collect premiums from
customers but suddenly fails to remit them on time to their principal or insurance company
as required instead they may keep the premium funds to invest in other activities which are
out of the insurance business to get benefit that they use on their own issues to get
personal gains leading to the situation where customers believe they have coverage
because they have already pay the premium to insurance intermediaries to present the
money to the particular insurance company but are actually un insured due to the non
payment of premium done by intermediaries.

Under banking premium collected ,under banking premium collected is also another
malpractice done by insurance intermediaries and this is refers to the situation where
intermediaries collect premium from customers but do not deposit or transfer the funds to
the insurance companies’ designated bank account instead they may keep the collected
premiums in their own accounts and even use the money of the premiums collected to
invest to other activities with the aim of getting benefit on their own without involving the
insurance companies and that could led to issues such as delayed or non existent coverage
for customers .

Forgery in banking premium collected, this malpractice involves intermediaries engaging in

fraudulent actives related to premium collection. They may forge signature or alter
documents ,including banking transactions related to premium payment to deceive
customers insurance companies or regulatory authorities those forgery malpractice may
trigger the in sufficient provision of insurance service to the insured person because of the
act of the intermediaries to act un faith full to the terms and conditions of the principal
which guide him or her on providing Insurance services more effectively.

The law can be defined as rules, regulations and principles which is used as a guide line to
all activities involved in day to day in a particular country and it has some basic function
such as granting rights and imposing duties ,prescribing legal requirements, prescribing legal
procedures ,providing for machinery for resolution of disputes, prescribing sanctions,
punishment and penalties for wrong doing but also providing for remedies and realization of
remedies, in insurance industry the law can be applied to solve and deal with the different
malpractice which are done by insurance intermediaries in our country and one among the
way to deal with those malpractice the law has established the main regulatory bodies
which deal with administered insurance sectors in Tanzania, and the main supervisor of
insurance business in Tanzania is . Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authorities.

Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authorities is Authorities established by insurance Act 2009

to regulate the insurance industry and is responsible for regulating and supervising
insurance industry in Tanzania .TIRA play many roles in managing insurance business in
Tanzania and some of them are such as providing license to insurance agents and brokers as
well as insurance companies, supervising the general function of insurance industry, to
protect insurance consumers, but also to impose different sanction and penalties to those
who are going against the insurance policies and rules established by insurance Regulatory
bodies in our country which is TIRA .
In case of malpractice done by insurance intermediaries the insurance regulatory bodies in
our country has the authorization to deal with those malpractice with the power given by
the law and ethical standards of governing insurance sectors and it has established different
authorities that deal with the insurance issues such as, insurance tribunal ,insurance
ombudsman that deal with solving different malpractice concerning insurance issues and
the following are some of the way how the law is applied to the malpractice done by
insurance intermediaries as follow.

Suspension or revocation of license to insurance intermediaries, In case of serious

misconduct or violation of regulations the law empower regulatory authorities which
administer the insurance industry in Tanzania which is Tanzania Insurance Regulatory
Authorities to suspend or revoke an intermediaries from continuing their activities and
services as a deterrent for others in the profession. The specific grounds for suspension or
revocation are typically outlined in licensing statutes or regulations that guide insurance
intermediaries on the way to conduct the insurance business in way that is more acceptable
by the insurance regulatory bodies and failure to do or to follow those regulations and
practices different malpractice a particular intermediaries may be suspended to continue
providing Insurance service as well.

Impose fines to insurance intermediaries, another way that the law is applied to deal with
intermediaries malpractice is by imposing the fines ,to discourage intermediaries from
engaging in unlawful or un ethically practices the law has authorized the imposition of heavy
fines to those who involved in unlawful activities such as fraud claims, forging signature or
doing un authorized activities so the law has given the Tanzania Insurance Regulatory
Authorities the power to impose financial penalties against insurance intermediaries who
violate the laws or regulations or the court also may impose some financial penalties as well

Legal action against the intermediaries, also another way that the law is applied in dealing
with the insurance intermediaries who doing malpractice is by taking legal action against
them ,the law enables also individuals or entities harmed by intermediaries malpractice to
pursue legal action against those insurance intermediaries who acts beyond the insurance
regulations a person may go to court and file a lawsuit seeking compensation for damages
suffered as a result Of insurance intermediaries negligence fraud or other miss
conducts ,legal action may involves civil suits arbitration or other disputes resolution
mechanism depending on the applicable laws and the nature of the disputes.
Consumer protection measures, this is another way on how the law is applied to deal with
malpractice done by insurance intermediaries, the law often provide consumers protection
measures to safe guard individuals or businesses who engage with intermediaries and this
measures can include regulation that prohibit deceptive advertising, unfair business
practices or predatory lending. But not only that but also they may also establish
mechanism for consumer to seek re course or file complaints against insurance
intermediaries who engage in un ethically conduct and un lawful activities which are against
the insurance rules and regulations.

Education and training to insurance intermediaries, this is another way the law can be
applied to deal with those malpractice resulting from insurance intermediaries which may
be due to fraud ,negligence, forgery of contracts, use of force to insurance customers or
involving with planning of unlawful act with the client in order to get benefit which is illegal
from insurance companies by forgeries claims so the law may require insurance
intermediaries to meet certain educational and training requirements before obtaining a
license or certification. These requirements ensure that insurance intermediaries possess
the necessary knowledge and skills to perform their duties competently and ethnically.
Education and training provisions often include ongoing professional development
obligations to keep intermediaries updated on industry practices and legal development.

Disclosure obligation, also insurance intermediaries are often required by law to disclosure
certain information to their clients or customers. This may include disclosing conflicts of
interest ,commissions or fees ,risk associated with certain products or services and any
other relevant information that could impacts the clients decisions making process such as
requirement ensure transparency and enable clients to make informed decisions and avoid
malpractice that may be resulted due to lack of knowledge and awareness concerning the
insurance issues by making them more understanding to insurance consumers and that
facilitate the smoothly provision of insurance products and services in a good and organized
manner ,so the insurance intermediaries is advised to disclosure all the material information
to the insurance consumers and reach the obligations imposed by the insurance companies
and by doing so the malpractice of intermediaries can be avoided in large extent.

Physical inspection of insurance intermediaries, also this is another way that the insurance
regulatory bodies can use to combat against different malpractice done by insurance
intermediaries in their places of job such as checking those who are involving in other un
authorized activities, but also to Check the validity of their licenses if it has expired or it
need to be renewed and that can be enforceable by Tanzania Insurance Regulatory
Authorities because is the main regulatory bodies that guides insurance intermediaries in
our country and by doing so the law may be imposed to those who fail to reach the terms
and conditions and they act against the instructions from their insurance principal, this
could facilitate faithful among insurance intermediaries and perform their activities .
Voidable contract, in cases where insurance intermediaries engage in fraudulent or
deceptive practices, the law may allow affected parties to avoid or cancel the contracts
entered into as a results of such miss conduct .Voiding a contract releases the parties from
their obligation and restore them to their pre contractual positions. This remedy helps
protect individual or businesses from the consequences of dealing with those malpractice
done by insurance intermediaries and the voidable contract may be against the insurance
intermediaries and his principal because of the un lawful act done by the insurance agents
or insurance brokers who are intermediaries of connecting insurance customers and
insurance companies ,so incase of malpractice the contract between insurance
intermediaries and his principal may be void.

Establishment of code of conduct, also the law may establish a code of conduct for
insurance intermediaries that will help them to be aware of different things which relates to
insurance market and to know what things that if an intermediaries did can be seen as
malpractice because not all intermediaries are done malpractice intentionally but other are
happen because of the lack of awareness of standard guide them in performing their duties
so the Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authorities may outlining the expected standards of
behavioural ethical practices. The insurance intermediaries are required to obliged to
adhere to those codes of conduct and failure to follow the outlined obligations insurance
intermediaries may face disciplinary actions such as imposing fines ,suspension of licenses,
or sometimes person may found guilty and go to the courts to answer for the claims done
by either the negligence of insurance intermediaries and other malpractice such as
insurance intermediaries may provide fraud statements about claims or may be back dating
the cover notes to defend the insured person and all of that are malpractice that can be
avoided soon by establishment of code of conduct.

Creation of insurance regulatory bodies to oversight the malpractice of intermediaries,

this is another way on how the law is applied to deal with the insurance malpractice by
creation of insurance regulatory bodies to supervising and monitoring all matters relating to
the insurance issues, Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authorities is the bodies established
under the insurance Act 2009 to monitor the insurance business and this Authorities I liable
in guiding insurance consumers such as insurance intermediaries as well as to deal with any
malpractice that could be done by those insurance intermediaries by come up with different
rules and principles which guide them in doing their activities and if insurance
intermediaries fail to meet the agreed obligations and involve in practices different
malpractice the law has given Tanzanian Insurance Regulatory Authorities the power to
impose fines ,suspension and revocation of the license of the intermediaries who have
commit different malpractice either accidentally or intentionally and by doing so the law
has succeeded to manage malpractice done in insurance industry easily by using insurance
regulatory bodies which is Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authorities (TIRA).

Generally, the malpractice of insurance intermediaries posses significant challenges within

the insurance industry leading to adverse consequences for both insurers and policyholders,
insurance intermediaries such as agents brokers and intermediaries play a crucial role in
connecting insurers with potential customers and facilitating the insurance process.
However instances of malpractice can undermine the trust and integrity of the industry
resulting in financial losses and hardship for policy holders.

Insurance intermediaries may engage in various forms of malpractice including miss

representation of policies ,fraudulent activities, conflicts of interest and negligence in
providing accurate and relevant information to policy holders .These un ethical practices can
results in policyholders being in adequate covered. Paying higher premiums or even facing
the denial of legitimate claims. Moreover such malpractice can have detrimental impact on
the reputation of the insurance as whole .

To address these issues laws and regulations are in place to govern the activities of
insurance intermediaries and protect the interests of policyholders. The specific laws and
regulatory framework vary across jurisdictions but they generally aim to ensure
transparency, fairness and professionalism in the insurance intermediaries sector.
One of the key approaches to dealing with malpractice is licensing and registration
requirements for insurance intermediaries. These requirements typically include criteria for
education ,training and ethical conduct. By setting these standards, regulations can ensure
that only qualified and trustworthy individuals or entities are allowed to operate as
intermediaries.
To enforce compliance regulatory bodies have the authority to investigate
complaints ,conduct audits and impose penalties on insurance intermediaries found guilty of
malpractice these penalties can range from fines and suspension to revocation of licenses,
effectively removing the intermediaries from the market, moreover, regulatory bodies may
collaborate with industry associations and consumers protection agencies to raise
awareness among policy holders about their right and responsibility. These effects can help
empower consumers to make informed decisions while choosing insurance intermediaries
and holding them accountable for any malpractice

In conclusion, while the malpractice of insurance intermediaries present significant

challenges, the law plays a crucial role in addressing these issues and safeguarding the
interest of policyholders. By implementing regulations, promoting transparency and
enforcing compliance, regulatory bodies aim to maintain the integrity and trustworthiness
of the insurance industry, ensuring that policyholders are adequately protected and served
by ethical and responsible intermediaries.
REFERENCES.
Kamwambia,(2013),The Role Of Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authorities (TIRA)On
Insurance Industry Development In Tanzania.

Charted Insurance Institute, (2019),Insurance Legal And Regulatory: Manchester