How To End All Insurance Problems - 13 likely questions on your mind and our 35 years proven answers to them

1. How can my company get the insurance cover it needs at the right price?

Getting the right insurance at the best price requires extensive knowledge of both your own business and the insurance market. It is important to be able to access carefully the type and amount of cover your business needs. Conditions are changing all the time. So is your business, and so is the insurance industry, which continually devices new types of cover, some of which may meet your needs more economically than your present policies.

In addition, a selective buyer of insurance has to know the types of cover in which various insurers specialise, and what their rates are. It is also advisable to be familiar with the records of underwriters and insurance companies, to satisfy yourself that they are in businesses of substance. With information like this at your fingertips, you are well placed to select the insurance you need.

2. How do I avoid buying too much insurance or too little?

Your business needs protection against the possible disastrous consequences of events beyond your control, such as fires, storms, floods and earthquakes; so that business risks are limited to those that can be managed. But in the long run it can be economical to bear some predictable risks yourself.

In other cases, the potential impact of loss-producing incidents may be reduced or eliminated by adopting safety programmes and methods. To reach the right decision, it is important to identify the type of risk to which your business is exposed and to select the most efficient strategy for neutralising their effect.

3. How can I make rational decisions on these technical matters?

You can do the necessary research - if you have the time and the know-how. Or you can ask Anika Insurance Brokers (AIB) for advice. Being a reputable broker, our livelihood depends on knowing the insurance market and keeping in touch with the latest developments.

We are also skilled at assessing the risks to which organisations are exposed, and in devising insurance programmes to cover them most efficiently. And we use specialists in safety to minimise the risks inherent in a business operation, thus keeping down the chances of loss and reducing the premiums payable.

4. How can I control my insurance needs and commitments from day to day?

It's not easy. Fluctuations in assets and stock levels, aggravated by rapid inflation, may require frequent adjustments to your level of cover. Policies expire from time to time. Claims, requiring proper documentation, have to be made. Legal requirements, such as workers' compensation, change suddenly. Undertaking new contracts may expose the business to liabilities for which no insurance provision exists.

It is our task to sort out the tangles. As part of the service, we make it our business to assist in all those areas, in most cases advising you well in advance when an important decision or action is approaching, monitoring your business ensuring that the level of protection is sufficient, and devising systems making it easier for you to control your insurance programmes.

5. If I have to make a claim, how do I do it most effectively?

Lodging a claim involves the production of necessary documentation, maintaining contact with the underwriter, and putting your case. Looking after these problems is an integral part of our service. As your broker, we will ensure that no time is lost in carrying out the proper formalities and recovering outstanding amounts.

6. How can I be sure that the insurance company or underwriter with whom I place my insurance is financially sound?

There are many insurance companies and underwriters whose conservatism and substance is beyond question. They may not, however, offer most competitive rates. To find an insurer who is both reliable and competitive, it is essential to know the market intimately. Achieving a blend of security and competitive rates on behalf of the insured is our job; our reputation depends on making certain that the insurer with whom we place our client's business performs as our client expects.

7. What will using AIB cost me?

In most cases, nothing! When we place your insurance with an underwriter, we receive brokerage for the exercise of our specialist professional skills. However, we will almost certainly be able to achieve savings well in excess of the brokerage. In other words, with our assistance you should get better quality cover and pay less for it, or obtain more and superior cover for the same premium. And you also may take advantage of the other services AIB offers; such as lodging claims, advising on insurance administration, providing safety assessments and advice, at no extra cost. In some cases, clients use our services on consulting basis for a fee.

8. What kind of insurance do I need?

This depends on your business. New forms of business are constantly being developed, in response to the challenge of continuous industrial and commercial progress. Recent innovations like jumbo jet and deep-sea oilrigs combine potentially high risk and great cost, presenting new problems for insurers.

Developments of this kind have forced brokers and insurers to explore the limits of insurance resources and expertise. Useful spin-offs for industry and business as a whole have resulted.

For instance, some insurance contracts today include provisions for the insured company to bear an initial amount of loss before the underwriter incurs a liability. This cuts the insurers' risk and therefore it may reduce the premium, but the insured company is still protected against catastrophic loses.

Putting together a balanced portfolio of insurance is something like trying to assemble a car from a warehouse full of spare parts. You have to know exactly where to look for what you need.

9. Who can give me the best terms?

Underwriters specialise in different forms of insurance and their appraisals of risks may vary widely. It is our business to seek out the cover most appropriate to the need at a competitive rate. Most Malaysian insurance is placed in the domestic market, but some very large or unusual risks require full resources of the world insurance community. We can tap them for you.

10. When I pay my premium over to AIB, how can I be sure AIB will use them on my behalf?

AIB has been in operations for more than 35 years. Being a market leader and firmly established too, we honour and observe good insurance broking practice.

11. What is the relationship between AIB and insurers, in view of the fact that AIB earn their living from brokerage?

Our loyalty is entirely to our clients. We are completely detached in selecting suitable underwriters for our clients' businesses on the grounds of economy, stability and performance. In the final analysis, it is the client who provides our revenue entrusting us with his insurance to place. Failure to act in the client's interest would soon cost us the confidence of that client. As in other professions and industries, competition between brokers work to the advantage of those who use our services.

12. Do many companies use AIB?

More than nine hundred large companies in Malaysia place their insurances through us. They are leaders of their respective industries. When we first started, we only handled about one-tenth of this number. The reason for the increase is not hard to find. The risks today are too complex, the choices in the insurance market too varied, for the average company to be able to afford a "do-it-yourself" insurance programme.

13. Is it possible for my company to enjoy a "claims experience refund" when we have favourable claims experience at the end of the period of your insurance?

Yes, it is now possible to enjoy a refund as high as 25% of your total premium when your claims experience are favorable. This would mean a tremendous savings of premium as you effectively pay only 75% premium for your insurances. As licensed brokers, we are able to offer such attractive scheme to all our prospective clients.

(*Provided premium is paid on inception)
(*Subject to underwriting guidelines and acceptance of risk by the respective insurer)