NBC Insurance Agency offers embedded benefits of service, education and advice.

Insurance is a contract, represented by a policy, in which an individual or entity receives financial protection or reimbursement against losses from an insurance company.

A policyholder contributes premium at an agreed period and the company pools clients' risks to make payments more affordable for the insured. In developed countries insurance is issued by Government to every individual.

Insurance is for the protection of people’s properties, companies and communities in the wake of eventualities. Insurance products are of diverse and others are warranted according to the law of the land. For instance; in Tanzania motor insurance is a must, dutifully.  

It’s crystal clear that insurance is of high essence to society. It cast a gloom on the fact that majority of people do not bother about being insured anyhow, holding prejudice that insurance is nugatory and expensive.

With an increasing pessimism over insurance, NBC rose filled with aplomb and entered into insurance market with most trusted and sustainable solution addressing challenges face insurance fraternity by introducing a subsidiary company to focus on insurance matters dubbed NBC Insurance Agency.

The head of Insurance Retail Banking at NBC, Benjamin Nkaka shares about the background of the company and its successes since its inception.

Tell us a brief history of NBC Insurance Agency.

NBC Insurance Agency is subsidiary of National Bank of Commerce (NBC) which began offering insurance service as small agency of National Insurance Corporation (NIC) for over past 15 years. Later, NBC Insurance Agency went to closely work with African Risk & Insurance Services (ARIS) which formerly was known as Alexander Forbes as small agency.

Having acquired vast experience of insurance agency service given that Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authority (TIRA) has provided banks with mandate to undertake insurance agency service, in the year 2013 NBC became quasi-independent insurance service provider and full-fledge agency. 

Why NBC began offering insurance service?

The factors are many but the most is the bank strategic plan to transform into a one-stop hub where customers can access number of financial service at a time.

Second, aspiration to provide customers with unmatched insurance products with the focus of protecting their properties and money/deposits against unprecedented damages.

Third, NBC sought to ensure majority of Tanzanians living in remote areas where bank’s reach is apparently limited, have an access to our insurance service through a vast bank branches network.

Apart from all mentioned above, there was also solicitude of the bank to always want to extend its operational horizon specifically for insurance service across the country. 

What insurance products are offered by NBC Insurance Agency?

Insurance have been categorized into three groups; life insurance, health insurance and property insurance.

Life Insurance

This insurance product shall cover a policyholder in an event of permanent disabilities that will sideline him/her from engaging in economic activities.

Within this category, there is special insurance product plan known as Educare. This is a noteworthy plan tailored for helping parent or guardian to cover for his/her children’s education regardless parent or guardian is alive, with permanent disability or dead.

This plan enables parent or guardian to contribute premiums in respect to the warranted agreed period with bank (probably range from 7 to 18 years) that will help to cover for children’s education from primary to advanced secondary level.

When contract term expires and child has already completed his/her studies, bank gives parent/guardian the remaining amount of benefits. At the occurrence of death of parent/guardian before plan term expires, NBC Insurance Agency and its partners shall continue contributing monthly interest premiums as it was previously paid by departed parent/guardian of the child.

Health Insurance

NBC Insurance Agency through its esteemed partners provide health insurance that enable policyholder to access healthcare from any hospital across the country. These products depend much on premiums contributed to. This insurance covers the largest part of accommodation for hospitalized patients.

Property Insurance

NBC Insurance Agency and its partners provides Property Insurance of diverse varieties; car insurance, housing insurance, business insurance, accident insurance, machinery insurance, construction insurance, travel insurance etc. All these insurances have been categorized into two sub-group, namely private and commercial insurances.

Who are NBC Insurance Agency associates in offering insurance service?

NBC insurance Agency works closely with three top-tier insurance companies; Sanlam General, Sanlam Life and Jubilee Insurance Company Limited, their unrivalled time-honored market experience as insurance service provider with immaculate team of insurance experts in Tanzania is something have always kept us attached to them.

Where it’s the point of departure between NBC Insurance Agency and other banks that offer insurance service?

It’s laid down that in Tanzania context, market penetration for insurance service is fairly low as a result of having even low number of banks that offer insurance service. With that being the case, NBC Insurance Agency does a couple of innovative and creative works to depart from our competitors as following:

Educative role

It’s a round-the-clock culture of NBC Insurance Agency to provide our esteemed customers with comprehensive education of insurance service before serving them, this could be one of our peculiar qualities that has always distinguished us from competitors. We have learnt that there’s a large percent of people who are not conversant of insurance.

There are unprofessionalism underlying majority of insurance service providers’ customer care units knowingly or otherwise. For example; a person might walk in the office for purchasing motor insurance product (specifically for cars) and yet nobody shows up for providing detailed information about motor insurance and probably advantages of having so, to the customer unless accident occurs. Given that customer is a rational being as any person, in the long run disfavors the entire insurance service.

As envisaging steady growth, NBC Insurance Agency leverage on the underlying gap by providing comprehensive education about insurance and its merits before instant product sale. With this, we have been entrusted by our customers and that makes big difference to Tanzanians.

Quality and Speed

In NBC Insurance Agency quality and speed are inextricably intertwined. These standards have embedded in every company’s operation factoring for our reputed and trusted insurance service by customers.

No one wants to have all day spent in office for purchase of just single insurance product or waiting for compensation after having filed a claim of his unprecedented damage, knowing that NBC Insurance Agency through our partners committed to saving time of our esteemed customers by any price. 

Comforting role

People do insure for the sake of being compensated against unexpected risk or damage, therefore at the times of customer’s damage, accident, loss of his/her properties, NBC Insurance Agency through its partners comfort our frustrated customer and ensure that he/she gets what he/she deserves.

This is possible because of our pre-eminent philosophy holding that ‘customer is our best partner’ and we owe him/her a great debt of support at every stage of life. And so we precisely monitor and advise customer on how to earn best possible benefits at the whole time.

Advisory role

Despite undertaking educative roles, we have been advising our customers on how to protect themselves against various unprecedented risks. Before selling a business insurance product we always conduct risk survey around business area and then goes on to advise customer what technically to do when found out that his/her area is not safe.

Other sub factors could be our extraordinary zeal to reach to the areas where our competitors have not stepped in; NBC Insurance Agency has extended its realm by providing insurance service in areas with large cash flow and what appeals most our branches are open until Sunday.

Tell us about procedures to access NBC Insurance Agency service

A blurred line is needed to just differentiate procedures ones should abide to access financial transaction (withdrawal or deposit) in banks with those of NBC Insurance Agency service. A customer can visit at any branch and then opt for his/her insurance product, shall likely get insured and receive all important documents. Customer is sure to get insured, educated and advised throughout our branches.

How is the response of your Insurance service from customers?

The response is impressive and tremendous and we owe our trusted service by customers to our unwavering creative spark and top-end service. Customers enjoy unusual experience as we provide them with three embedded benefits; education, advice and quality service.

The other thing is outstanding cooperation with our partners; Sanlam General, Sanlam Life and Jubilee Insurance Company Limited who have always backed us when the going gets tougher.

Not only that, these companies have entrusted us and received diverse range of our service with open arms attributed largely to our long-standing bank’s par excellence, core values etc.

Is there anything that your company is proud of so far?

There are number of things that our company have done to be proud of but the most important aspect is company’s steady growth that translate into major shift company had ever gone through along the sector. This is together with service/products diversity, customer base etc.

Furthermore, company is boasting about selling insurance products and its advantages as we give customer a product with great deal of benefits subject to premiums contributions. Another thing, a company provides products that suit customers’ needs along three areas; quality service/products, advice and education.

As one of the Tanzania insurance market leaders, how do you assess insurance market in here? Where would it be after five years?

There’s an increasing growth trend of insurance market as days goes on contrary to the retrospect. The steady growth has been largely attributed to Fifth Phase Government through Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authority (TIRA)’s efforts in making sure that sector’s growth is a success.

With the result that Government had set forth best strategies, we have experienced a gigantic business environment change within insurance sector and surely are crusades taken by   Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authority (TIRA) to influence steady growth of the sector due to the fact that Tanzania has low number of insurance users.

For the next 5 years to come, Insurance sector is likely to grow at an increasing rate due to development strategies charted out, industrialization agenda is one of them provided that insurance is an integral part of industrialization drive, hence this could boost mushrooming of insurance service across the country.

What are the strategies to be taken by NBC Insurance Agency?

The current strategies are to extend our breadth of products and service offering, innovatively establishing customized range of products responding to customers’ needs, continue to improve our service and reaching out to large number of people beyond expectations.

What message does NBC Insurance Agency wishes to leave?

We reckon that all of partners making up insurance sector in liaison with Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authority (TIRA) should through our integrated efforts, invest much on providing insurance education to people as there’s large population of people who can afford to have insurance but yet uneducated.

It rests with Government and sector key players to forge strategic plans of establishing plenty of higher level education institutions that would offer insurance courses as currently Tanzania has only single institution doing so.   

Insurance is crucial to human lives therefore, people shouldn’t perceive insurance as a luxurious need, they have to take insurance of high importance and we welcome them at NBC Insurance Agency to insure themselves with embedded benefits of education and advice.