One of the biggest changes brought by the Covid-19 outbreak to the insurance industry is that of being a catalyst for customer-centricity and satisfaction in servicing.
While most insurers strive for faster, flexible and data-led approaches, the appeal from customers for basic, seamless and tailored insurance services continue to serve as the cornerstone of what insurance providers do.
The views expressed by customers in the latest South African Customer Satisfaction Index (SA-csi) for Life Insurance (2019) conducted by Consulta confirm that customer satisfaction and perceived value for money remain deal breakers for life insurers.
Based on the 2019 SA-csi results, FNB Life is placed as the second leading insurer in the country with the most satisfied customers. The results are testament to the fact that Insurance-licensed banks and bancassurers are making inroads into the traditional insurer’s space.
The advantage brought forth by the bank’s infrastructure has not only given FNB Life a captive audience to work with, but a fully-fledged eco-system that allows the bank to better service clients across every single one of the product or servicing touch points.
FNB Life CEO Lee Bromfield says: “Customer satisfaction in our line of business is key and we continue to place a lot of emphasis on minimising barriers to taking up life insurance by digitising the process end to end. Through our platform, we have developed seamless processes where customers can easily and timeously submit claims via the FNB App or FNB.mobi.”
FNB Life started using death data to proactively pay out claims to beneficiaries. To date the bank has paid out over R100-million in proactive claims. As processes improve, the bank intends to have 20% of all its claims initiated by the insurance team and not the customers.
Amidst the tough economic times, platform-based solutions remain a core strategic pillar for the bank, both from an enablement and convenience point of view. FNB customers not only appreciate a consistent user experience, but also enjoy getting access to a secure digital platform that allows them to effortlessly cater for their holistic banking needs.
“We believe that the integration of our offering into FNB’s industry leading platform capabilities has given us a competitive edge over our 5 years of service, and we continue to gradually scale our value-added incentives and capabilities across our product range.
As an insurance licensed bank, we truly understand our customer’s needs end to end based on all the financial data we are exposed to. Our business’ success continues to be rooted in the fact that we are committed to building the best valuable product the bank’s customer can buy, distributed through channels that customers are accustomed to and delivered through great service. We have successfully realised this objective in our business and are progressively enabling richer functionalities and seamless servicing for our client base,” says Bromfield.
The financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has forced an environment where consumers are under immense financial pressure and as a result place great emphasis on getting value for their money. Through the bank’s ecosystem, integrating life insurance into a trusted banking system is likely to become increasingly important while customer’s pockets remain under pressure.
“It’s important for the insurance industry to put the needs of all customers first. Our commitment to providing innovative solutions, supported by our platform-led technology and dynamic ecosystem has allowed us to continue providing true service and value in our customer’s insurance journey” concludes Bromfield.