NAGICO and SIBA sign new contracts with agent brokers
PHILIPSBURG--National General Insurance Corporation N.V. NAGICO and St. Maarten Insurance Brokers Association (SIBA) have jointly completed the redraft of the contract between NAGICO and the agent brokers. The contract concentrates on a fair and direct relationship between the agent brokers and NAGICO as to how they conduct business.
The new contract was officially signed at a gathering at the NAGICO office on Thursday, January 25. NAGICO Managing Director Raymond Ramphal said the new contract had been designed to meet the needs of the corporate management and incorporated the responsibility of the directors of the agent broker companies, who will become personally responsible and liable for money received from clients.
Based on these changes in the contract between NAGICO and the agent brokers, Ramphal explained, the contract had to be amended and updated to make it suitable for all parties.
He said the old contract between NAGICO and SIBA had been in existence since NAGICO's inception and it had incorporated some of what was presented in the new contract, but changes that had occurred due to the hurricanes had affected the rates and commission to the agent brokers over time.
In addition, Ramphal said, NAGICO and the agent brokers had a credit agreement in the past whereby the agent brokers were allowed to hold money for a period of time before turning it over. However, now the money has to be turned over within the regulated time and requirements set by the Central Bank.
Ramphal commented that since NAGICO's inception it had been its objective to work with its customers and agent brokers to tailor-make contract policies with mutual needs and benefits for their clients. He said it was the company's goal to continue on this stream and not retract as it tried to give the most efficient and prompt service.
SIBA President Richard Boyd thanked NAGICO's management for including SIBA in the formation of the redrafted contract. He commented that the new contract was more balanced, as the previous contract had been more from the company's point of view. He said that as a result of NAGICO inviting SIBA to assist in the expansion of the contract, they had been able to make it more agent broker-friendly.
Boyd also said the signing of the new contract coincided with NAGICO's 25th Anniversary and was a great achievement for the company. He extended a special thank you to the SIBA members who had made their contributions in finalizing the contract.
NAGICO Managing Director I. McSood Amjad said that, in his opinion, SIBA had worked extremely hard over the last couple of years to develop the association that represented all agent brokers and should be given an enormous amount of credit for cooperating with NAGICO in creating this agent broker agreement. He said it had not been an easy task, as the document had been printed at least six times before the final agreement was reached.
McSood encouraged all agents and brokers who were not members of SIBA to join and those agents and brokers that were already members to become more active. He said he thought SIBA was an organization that could represent them well, not only in St. Maarten, but in the entire Netherlands Antilles.
Article taken from the Daily Herald website. http://www.thedailyherald.com/news/daily/j211/Nagico211.html