Ombudsman Celebrates 25 Years in SA Insurance Industry

February 4 - The South African Ombudsman for Life Assurance is celebrating 25 years in the industry, and can look back with pride at its achievements.

The scheme was established in 1985, with the purpose of providing South Africans with an out of court system to settle disputes that they may have with insurance providers.

Within the first year of the scheme taking off the ground, over 30 insurance groups had committed to the scheme, making it a resounding success almost from day one.

The scheme meant that complainants would not be saddled with heavy legal bills as the service was free to them. Instead, the insurance industry bears the cost of the ombudsman office.

The service is highly convenient as, on the one hand there is no monetary limit on the complaints, and on the other hand they do not lose their rights to go to court if they are not 100% satisfied with the ombudsman's decision.

The Ombudsman for Life Assurance opened up doors to other financial service areas developing their own out of court dispute schemes.

The operation attracted 55 letters of complaint in its first year of operations, and grew to 9000 last year - a clear testimony of its success and popularity as an alternative dispute resolver.

The Ombudsman for Life Assurance has on its mission statement that it strives for informality, ready access, cost effectiveness, speedy resolution of disputes, mediation rather than adjudication and the right to afford due weight to equity.

After 25 years in operation, it is safe to say that the scheme has achieved all this and more.