Insurance companies seek better image
Following the recent demise of Belinsco, one of Belize’s most well known insurance companies, the average citizen has taken a different look at the business of insuring life and property. Trying to restore confidence in the industry, the Organization of Insurance Companies of Belize, (ORINCO) held a press conference to better inform the public. One topic high on the list was whether the insurance companies of Belize would be able to survive the devastating impact a major hurricane would pose to their cash flow. President of ORINCO, Hart Tillett, told News Five that the secret of surviving any storm of claims is “reinsurance.”
Hart Tillett, President, ORINCO
“Insurance is not a local industry. No insurance company can stand without reinsurance and what to do is that you enter into treaties with a reputable reinsurance company and all the risks, there is an arrangement for example that you are going to retain 10% of any risk which means that in the event of a claim, you will only pay 10% of that claim, the reinsurance company is going to pick up the other 90%. It means that the reinsurance company get 90% of the premium as well so that represents a loss to the country, but it’s the only way we can do business.”
“Your original question about the failure of one of the companies is something that concerns us very much. There are those in our industry that say it didn’t have to happen, it should not have happened. We have very good regulatory mechanisms in place, we have our assistant supervisor, a trained person in insurance and they are those who say it should not have happened. We don’t know how it came about, but the industry has certainly suffered some loss of confidence and we at ORINCO must now take the necessary steps to restore that confidence.”
This week is being celebrated as Insurance Awareness Week. At this morning’s press conference, Acting Prime Minister Johnny Briceno told the gathering that the government and the insurance companies will continue to work together in consultation, especially in areas such as the proposed National Health Insurance scheme, which could hurt the sale of the medical policies offered by several insurance companies in Belize.
