NEW DELHI: If your insurance policy broker’s service is not satisfactory, you can now approach an ombudsman to seek redressal. For, the insurance ombudsman rules have just been throughly amended to bring brokers under its ambit.
You can lodge your complaint against your insurance broker online. They can now be penalised for deficiency in service.
The amended rules have enlarged the scope of complaints to the ombudsman to include disputes pertaining to deficiencies in service on the part of insurers, agents, brokers and other intermediaries.
“Insurance brokers have been brought within the ambit of the ombudsman mechanism, by empowering the ombudsman to pass awards against insurance brokers,” the Union finance ministry said in its statement on Wednesday.
A complaints management system will be created to enable policyholders to track the status of their complaints online. The ombudsman can use video conferencing for hearings.
The government notified the amendments to the Insurance Ombudsman Rules, 2017 on March 2.
“A number of amendments have been made for securing the independence and integrity of the ombudsman selection process, while also building in safeguards to secure the independence and impartiality of the appointed persons while serving as ombudsmen,” the finance ministry said in its statement.