“I am not aware of that. None of our clients and the banks has lodged any complaint,” she said.
She was responding to allegations that banks have returned some of the cheques the insurance company issued to clients. Recently, local commercial banks have been advising their clients to check the validity of their insurance cover with GIB. Some banks went as far as advising their clients to cancel their cover with GIB and look for alternatives.
Last month, one local bank wrote to a client that: “Please note that the bank has decided not to accept policies from General Insurance Botswana. If you already have a GIB Policy, you are kindly advised to cancel it/ arrange insurance elsewhere.”
Contacted for clarification, an officer of the bank pointed out that “we are concerned about that insurance company. It could be facing insolvency. As such, all we are doing is to protect our clients”. The officer could not be drawn into discussing the matter further.
At the time of going to press, the Registrar of Insurance had not replied a questionnaire that Mmegi sent through the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning. Tsheole was not prepared to discuss the alleged problems at her insurance company.
