Mauritian Eagle adhere to the Insurance Code of Practice as designed by the Insurers’ Association.

OUTLINE OF THE CODE

The Insurance Code of Practice (the Code) is a self regulatory Code to promote good relations between insurers, agents, salesmen end customers and good insurance practice by describing standards of good practice and service. The Code applies to both long term insurance business and general insurance business. It is intended that implementation of the Code will promote excellence in all business practices within the industry. For this purpose the Code is to be a ‘living Code’ which will be progressively developed after consultation with interested groups.
The Code requires participating insurers to establish internal and external dispute handling procedures.

OBJECTIVES

The Code will:
(a) describes standards of good practice and service to be met by participating insurers;
(b) promote disclosure of information relevant and useful to consumers so as to allow them to make an informed choice and compare one product with another;
(c) facilitate the education of consumers about their rights and obligations under insurance contracts;
(d) promote trustworthy and effective relationships between consumers, insurers, agents and salesmen;
(e) require insurers to have fair procedures for resolution of disputes between consumers and insurers or consumers and agents, or consumers and salesmen; but a breach of the Code shall not give rise to any legal right or liability.

INSURANCE CODE OF PRACTICE HIGHLIGHTS

Agents and Salesmen
Insurers shall require their agents and salesmen to :
(a) possess the necessary knowledge and skills appropriate to the insurance they are arranging and the insurance services they are providing;
(b) inform customers of their status, the identity of the insurer for whom they are acting and the nature of any association between the insurer and the agent or the salesman.

Clauses
The policies shall have express clauses relating to nullity, forfeiture and exclusion in bold character so that the consumer may have full and fair awareness of their existence and consequences.

Paid Up Policies
Life assurance policies must set out the conditions under which paid up policies become available, so that at any time the consumer may be able to ascertain the paid up value of his policy if he stops paying the premium.

Surrender Values
The mathematical formulae used to compute the surrender value must be disclosed in the contract so that at any time the consumer may be able to ascertain the surrender value to which he is entitled.

Claims
(i) In normal circumstances, insurers shall within 15 business days of receipt of a claim respond to the claim.
(ii) Surveyors, investigators, assessors and loss adjusters shall operate in a professional manner and inform consumers of their status and the identity of the insurers for whom they are acting.

Third Party Professionals
Each assessor or loss adjuster acting on behalf of the insurer has to be approved by the insurer; and a member of an assessing or loss adjusting professional body should have sufficient expertise to act in relation to the loss.

Disputes
Each insurer shall have an internal process for resolving a dispute between the consumer and the insurer, the consumer and the insurer’s agent or salesman or the consumer and the surveyor, ii lessor or loss adjuster.

Underwriting and Premiums
An insurer shall apply prudent underwriting standards and implement sound premium rating practices so as not to jeopardise its financial stability.

Consumer Information Brochures
Where an insurer publishes consumer information brochures relating to the general nature of insurance or the effect and operation of a policy then the insurer shall make those brochures available to consumers on request. Brochures or any form of publicity should not be untruthful or misleading.

The Complete Code of Practice may be consulted on demand at the Mauritian Eagle Insurance Company.