CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2014

 

Distinguished EXCO Members, CEOs of Insurance Companies, members of the Secretariat, Fellow Members, Ladies & Gentlemen.

We are delighted to welcome you to our 16th Annual General Meeting of The National Insurance Claims Society for the term 2014 / 2015. The last EXCO meeting was held on the        26 January 2015 ending the 2014/2015 term.  

It’s been a remarkable and stimulating 2014 / 2015 term. Before we usher in the new term of 2015/2016, let’s flash back some events and programs that NICS had offered and organized for the members throughout the outgoing term.

2014/2015 remarked the 16th anniversary of this society. We are proud to announce that since its establishment, the Society has attracted 29 members to date; 12 general insurers, 4 life insurers, 5 composite insurers, 6 takaful operators and 2 reinsurance companies.  The latest addition recorded to the membership list are Overseas Assurance Corporation Malaysia Berhad (OAC) and Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Berhad (STMB).

We noted increasing participation from both foreign and local based companies sharing their expertise and experience for the betterment of the industry in the area of but not limited to combating fraud, quality workshops and seminars and those processes relevant in the day-to-day operation of claim department. We could conclude that NICS’s memberships was diverse, provided networking opportunities and rapport building among claim managers nationwide.

NICS Exco formed 4 sub-committees, some involved volunteers claim professionals from member companies, functioned in a range of Society roster namely Education & Training headed by Ms Koh Yan Yie from RHB Insurance Berhad; Best Practices & Special Project headed by Mr Siow Chong Siong from Multi Purpose Insurance Berhad; Networking headed by Pn Mashayu Mohd Rahim from Takaful Ikhlas Sdn Bhd and Anti-Fraud headed by Mr Kenny Ho of MCIS Insurance Berhad. Glory to all the named sub-committees and the Heads for their time, commitment and dedication and especially for being the back bones of various NICS activities and programs throughout the expiring terms.     

Since its founding on 15 December 1998, the National Insurance Claim Society has been the forefront in fulfilling niche need of claim industry in providing forum of information exchange and program of education tailored to the needs of its members; life, general, takaful and as well conventional companies nationwide.

NICS had persistently continue its long standing commitment to professional excellence with workshops, trainings, seminars, best practice forums, and networking on wide range of legal, medical and claim related topics presented by experts in their respective fields.  These educational workshops provided opportunities to keep up with relevant legal changes and developments, hear from medical doctor about their practice specialties and the impact on claim management, and remained connected with representatives from various agencies and organizations relevant to claim industry. Doctor, lawyer, adjuster, forensic scientist are professionals whose had been featured as speakers at NICS workshops. To this effect, we commended Education & Training Sub-Committee for being very active, effective and eventually delivered a meaningful range of related activities for the benefit of the Society and its members.  

These diverse array of educational programs included topics such as Marine, Medical, Property, Business Interruption, Commercial Crimes, regulatory related topic like Good & Services Tax (GST) and an insightful seminar on Review of the Civil Law Act. We were thrilled to find the Society’s educational activity was more visible and beneficial among members.  To proof this point, we were delighted to notice that there had been increasing trend of participations attending the Society’s programs in technical workshops and seminars, and for learning industry best practice for processing claims. For record, about 600 participants attended NICS educational programs and sessions throughout this term.

This came along with members’ awareness that well educated claim professionals are best able to represent their industry’s interests and serve the customer in the most educated, efficient and cost effective-manner.  In short, members we encouraged and moved to promote professionalism in the claim industry generally and claim profession specifically.

Term 2014 / 2015 marked consistent action against false claim with the organization of the NICS Best Practice conference on Fraud Claim Management. Having sighted financial implication of fraud claims, it is imperative for the industry to take firm and effective actions to deter, detect and mitigate the risk of fraud claims. Hence, NICS was pleased to take up important step such as sponsoring the conference to facilitate and promote the collaboration among claim managers within the industry in combating insurance fraud claims.

Unlike any other educational platform provided by NICS which usually chargeable at nominal fee; the conference was fully sponsored by NICS as a token of appreciation to all member companies who had been supporting NICS activities throughout the year.  NICS was blissful that to the least, members companies like Berjaya, AM General, RHB, AmMetlife and Uni.Asia were willing to pool resources and participate in this very event for the benefit of the whole industry.

For your information, behind the scene of the conference, there was an organizing committee who came from various member companies such as AIG, Etiqa, Progressive Insurance, Labuan RE, Malaysian Re, MCIS, Multipurpose Insurance and Tune Insurance. In short, behind the very event, there was a score of member companies who had worked together and cooperatively rendered their joint effort to make it a reality.

NICS was very pleased to be the common platform and unite these companies to speak the same language when it comes to fraud claim management. This was highly encouraging, and we hope in future NICS would continue to up keep the momentum and strengthen this respectable partnership so long as it could.

Besides offering the claim industry in general and member companies in particular specialized educational services, NICS strategy was to expand what could be offered to enhance opportunities for industrial networking.


The Society intended to develop working relationships and business rapport with individuals, companies, authorities or any party of relevance. Over the past and current expiring terms, NICS had brought hundreds of individuals together at educational and networking events. Ever since early days, NICS had been developed by claim leaders in the industry and thrived on participants that devoted their time and effort to this effect.

One of the ways we were able to maintain this was by arranging networking cum educational visit to Puspakom & West Port Malaysia. The visitations were highly informative and beneficial since we had opportunity for first hand insights of how these 2 entities run their daily operations. A special appreciation to the Networking Sub-Committee for coordinating and making these events successful.     

Last but not least, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all the EXCO members who has done an excellent job in delivering the activities for this term. I hope they can continue to serve the Society and the industry for this new term.

I wish them well in their future undertakings for without them the Society would not be what it is today. Our appreciation also always goes to Ms Nancy and Ms Neethya from the Secretariat who has relentlessly pursued the Society’s objectives together with us.

Thank you for your precious time and kind attention

 

 

Muhammad Azlan Noor
Chairman

31st March 2014