UNIVERSITY OF DAR ES SALAAM

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS

BM 333: FIELD TRAINING REPORT

NAME: LAIZER, DICKSON WILSON

REGISTRATION NUMBER: 2017-04-07039

PLACEMENT: THE HERITAGE INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED

INTERNAL SUPERVISOR: MR. ALBERT MBONEA RABSON

EXTERNAL SUPERVISOR: DR. MASHAKA MKANDAWILE

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. .................................................................................................... ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. ..................................................................................................... iii
ABBREVIATIONS. ............................................................................................................... iv
INTRODUCTION: ABOUT HERITAGE INSURANCE COMPANY. ................................. 1
Type of Organization. .......................................................................................................... 1
Historical background. ......................................................................................................... 1
Mission, Vision and Core values. ........................................................................................ 2
Organizational Structure. ..................................................................................................... 2
Heritage Organizational Structure ....................................................................................... 3
Main products offered by the company. .............................................................................. 4
Activities and operations. .................................................................................................... 8
CHAPTER TWO: HOW ACTIVITIES WERE DONE (METHODOLOGY)...................... 10
Underwriting and Reinsurance Department....................................................................... 10
Claims Department. ........................................................................................................... 17
Finance and Accounts Department .................................................................................... 22
CHAPTER THREE: COMMENTS AND DUTIES PERFORMED. .................................... 23
General expectations .......................................................................................................... 23
Challenges (Problems faced). ............................................................................................ 25
New things learnt. .............................................................................................................. 26
Academic Gap.................................................................................................................... 27
Employment Prospects. ..................................................................................................... 27
Relevance of Practical Training. ........................................................................................ 28
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS................................... 29
Strengths and Weaknesses. ................................................................................................ 29
Strengths. ....................................................................................................................... 29
Weaknesses. ................................................................................................................... 30
Recommendations .............................................................................................................. 30
To Heritage Insurance Tanzania. ................................................................................... 30
To the University of Dar Es Salaam. ............................................................................. 31
Conclusion. ........................................................................................................................ 31
CHAPTER 5: REFERENCES ............................................................................................... 32

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report is a brief summary of all observations and activities which took place
during my training at Heritage Insurance Company. The University of Dar Es Salaam
had placed me in the company to receive a more practical insight of what was learnt
in class and also to gain work skills which will make me a good fit to the industry.
This report provides relevant content to support the mentioned objectives above.

As said before, my training took place at Heritage Insurance Tanzania from 22nd of
July to 13th of September, 2019. The company is located at Masaki, Masaki Ikon,
4th Floor.
Heritage Insurance Tanzania is a general insurance company meaning it only
provides for non life insurance products. The company offers a vast majority of
products and it is a trusted insurer for many big organizations in the country when it
comes to risk coverage. This is mainly due to its efficient and diligent working staff
who give their all for the company. Through the company’s effective routine I was
able to learn many things about the company mostly concerning the activities done
by each department of the company. These activities tested my work ethic and the
ability to work as a team with other members of the staff. In general the company
makes effort for every intern coming to the company, making sure that the time they
spend in the company is worthwhile.

The report is divided to a number of chapters to provide an insight of all

information and general activities done by the company and their implications. The
chapters used are as follows;
Chapter one provides an introduction about the company; its history, mission, values,
major activities and future prospects.
Chapter two elaborates on the methodology; how different activities were performed
according to a given department.
Chapter three provides a summary of my expectations, challenges and comments of
the academic gap I observed while performing various activities of the company.
Chapter four points out my recommendations and the conclusion about this report
where as the final chapter (chapter five) includes different references used in writing
this report.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The successful completion of my practical training is a result of combined efforts,

views, ideas and encouragement from varied sources to which I would like to
acknowledge my sincere gratitude.

First and foremost my deeply honor goes to the Almighty God for his guidance from
the time I began my practical training to the time I wrote this report

Also, I would also like to extend my gratitude thanks to Dr. Mashaka Mkandawile,
the coordinator of Actuarial Sciences course at the University of Dar es Salaam for
his sincere efforts and support in finding a place to conduct our training. This was a
major helping hand as the placement was well informed to the company and it was
done early. Also I would like to thank him for his guidelines for writing this report
which made the whole process easier.

Special thanks to Mr. Albert, my supervisor for his supervision, advice, criticisms
and encouragement through the eight weeks that I spent doing my practical training
at Heritage Insurance company.

On top of that I would also like to thank Mrs. Victoria Israel the Human Resource
Manager at Heritage insurance together with all staff members for their enormous
support and guidance during my training. Their huge support made it easier for me to
quickly cope with the environment at the company and comfortably perform various
activities that I was assigned.

Lastly, I would like to thank my family for their support and care during the whole
period of the training. May the Almighty God cast blessings onto them abundantly.

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 ABBREVIATIONS

 ARIS – African Risk & Insurance Services.

 CEO – Chief Executive Officer.
 CSP– Customer Service Point.
 EA– East Africa.
 IBNS– Incurred But Not Settled.
 IT – Information Technology.
 MD– Managing Director.
 RE – Reinsurance.
 TIRA – Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authority.
 TIRA MIS– TIRA Motor Insurance Stickers.
 TPO – Third Party Only.
 TZS – Tanzanian Shillings.
 UDSM – University of Dar Es Salaam.
 UK – United Kingdom.
 VAT – Value-Added Tax.

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 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION ABOUT HERITAGE INSURANCE COMPANY

a) Type of Organization
First and foremost, The heritage insurance company is an insurance company
which deals with non-life insurance products only. In other words, it is a general
insurance company. General insurance only deals with property and casualty
damage, also the products involved are short term products with duration of one
year. The simplicity and flexibility of general insurance products are the main
reasons why the company stuck its allegiance to this particular form of insurance.
Historically Heritage has focused on corporate business, insuring non-life
corporate risk and has a fully qualified technical team to advise on Complete
Risk Management Services.

b) Historical background
Historically, Heritage Insurance is a subsidiary of the Heritage Insurance
Company in Kenya, whose roots can be traced back until 1908. Through Liberty
Kenya Holdings’ investment in East Africa, Heritage Tanzania is also a member
of the Standard Bank Group, the largest financial services group in Africa.
Liberty Kenya Holdings Limited is also the holding company of Heritage and
CfC Life Assurance Ltd in Kenya and a group associate of Stanbic Investment
Management Services (EA) Ltd in Kenya and Uganda.

As said before, the company started its operations back in 1908 when two UK
based companies, The Norwich Union Fire Society and the Legal General
Insurance Company commenced business operations in Kenya. These companies
merged their operations in 1976 to form the Heritage Insurance Company in
1997. The company took over the operations of African International Insurance.

Since 1998, Heritage Insurance has become the largest private insurance
company in Tanzania with after tax profits of TZS 1.521 billion, net assets
exceeding TZS 14.2 billion and a AA- rating by Global Credit Rating Company

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 for claims paying ability. The company also owns 40% share in Strategis
Insurance, one of few private health insurance companies in Tanzania. In 2004
the company made a substantial investment in Alliance Insurance Company
through the purchase of 45% of share of the company. All these investments
underline the company’s devotion to the Tanzania insurance market. Looking
into the future, the company intends to enter growth markets in the retail sector
with exciting new products and distribution channels.

c) Mission, Vision and Core values

The culture and the goals of the company can be summarized as follows;

To maintain a viable and sustainable risk transfer enterprise that

MISSION maximizes returns for key stakeholder groups-our shareholders,
business partners and staff
To be the obvious and preferred choice of risk partner for buyers,
VISION intermediaries and re-insurers, and the point of reference for the
Tanzania insurance industry.
Achieving customer and supplier confidence based on honesty,
VALUES professionalism, efficiency and technical competence.

d) Organizational Structure
Like any other entity, the company has a defined structure set in place with the
main purpose of satisfying customer demands. The company has three branches,
a main branch, one branch in Arusha and the other one being a customer service
point (CSP). The main branch is situated at Masaki while the CSP is situated at
Posta. The company also has numerous sub-divisions in itself to guide in smooth
running of the business and improve technicality and specialization. The
organizational structure of the company can be summarized in the illustration
shown below

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 HERITAGE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

CHIEF EXECUTIVE
OFFICER

GENERAL MANAGER

HEADS OF DPARTMENTS

UNDERWRITING CLAIMS FINANCE MARKETING

Summary.

 Board of Directors – This consists of the chairman and various

stakeholders of the company. The Board of Directors jointly oversee the
activities of the organization and also account to the stakeholders for the
organization’s performance.
 Chief Executive Officer – The most senior officer in charge of managing
a company and its resources. The current CEO is Mr. Shanmugarajan
Natarajan.
 General Manager – The general manager coordinates processes and
operations across the company. The current General Manager is Mr.
Gilliard Mardai.
 Heads of Department – These are in charge of different departments of
the company which include.

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 1. Underwriting/Reinsurance Department – Led by Mr.
Joseph Mardai.
2. Claims Department – Led by Mr. Plasid Mchomba.
3. Finance Department – Led by Mrs. Thecla Magashi.
4. Marketing Department – Led by Mr. Safraaz Kassam.
 Secretary and Legal Officer – In charge of all legal activities and
obligations of the company led by Mrs. Gemma Moshy.
 Human Resource and Administration - The Human Resource Manager is
obliged to deal with all responsibilities connected with employees and
resource management. The current manager is Mrs. Victoria Israel.

Number of Employees.

The company has a total of 30 employees coming from different parts of the
company. The breakdown can be shown as follows;

 Underwriting – 10 employees.
 Finance – 7 employees.
 Claims – 6 employees.
 Marketing – 5 employees.
 Information and technology – 2 employees.

The difference in the number of employees from each department depends on the
weight of responsibilities under each department. The underwriting department has
the highest number of employees since most of the day to day duties fall into the
underwriting department where new business enters the business continuously, also it
acts as a reference point for all other departments.

e) Main products offered by the company

As said before the company offers a wide range of non-life insurance products.
These products are mainly associated with property damage and casualty. The
premium calculated for these products are for one year since almost all general
insurance products have a expiry term of one year. The company is constantly

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 trying its best to innovate new products so as to match competitiveness of the
current market and increase profitability.

The main products offered by the company are as follows;

1. Motor insurance protects the insured against financial loss in the event that
the motor vehicle is involved in an accident burnt or stolen.
 Third Party; This policy covers third party bodily injury and property
damage arising out of use of motor vehicle.
 Third party Fire & Theft cover; extends to cover theft, third party bodily
injury and property damage.
 Comprehensive cover; covers third party liability and property damage to
the vehicle i.e. damage arising out of fire, theft and accidental damage to the
vehicle.
2. Ahadi Insurance is a domestic, office and business insurance policy
designed to provide flexibility to fit the needs of anyone. It mainly provides
cover for fire, theft and allied perils.
3. Aviation insurance is insurance coverage geared specifically to the
operation of aircraft and the risks involved in aviation. Available covers
include;
 Aviation Hull.
 Passenger Legal Liability.
 Third Party liability.
 Operators liability.
 Mail Legal liability.
4. Bonds (also known as “financial guaranty insurance” is a type of insurance
whereby an insurance company guarantees scheduled payments of interest
and principle on a bond or other security in the event of a payment default
by the issuer of the bond or security. The bonds available include;
 Customs bonds.
 Security bonds.
 Performance bonds.

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 Financial guarantee.
5. Burglary/Theft This policy will indemnify the insured against the loss of or
damage to the property insured arising from burglary or housebreaking as
defined in the policy.
6. Contractors all risks undertaken by a contractor against any unforeseen
accidental physical loss or damage. Interests covered include cost of all
materials and property.
7. Electronic equipment the policy covers accidental loss or damage to
electronic equipment (e.g: computers and accessories) against any
unforeseen and sudden physical loss or damage causes include accidental
damage, internal damage due to short circuiting and fire.
8. Erection all risks this policy provides covers for destruction or damage to
machinery during the course of site erection, from storage through handling,
erection, commissioning to final testing and during any prescribed
subsequent maintenance period caused by fire, burglary and any unforeseen
accident.
9. Fire and allied perils this policy will provide cover for damage or
destruction to insured property by fire, lightning or explosion of domestic
appliances.
10. Goods in transit policy offer protection against loss, destruction, or damage
to goods whilst they are in transit – from the time of leaving the insured’s
premises to final delivery. The policy also protects the insured from liability
during loading and unloading of the goods, and temporary housing in the
course of transit. The cover is available for individuals or companies
transporting goods.
11. Hotel combined liability this covers registered/licensed hotel operators for
legal liabilities they may incur as a result of their negligent operation of their
business.
12. Professional indemnity this policy indemnifies the insured against any
sums for which the insured becomes legally liable as a direct result of any
negligent act, error or omission made by him during the performance of his

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 duties as a professional man/women (e.g. engineers, architects, lawyers,
accountants etc.)
13. Assets all risks is a type of insurance policy with a broad scope of cover and
intended to insure all the assets of a company. It combines various covers
like fire, burglary, consequential loss, machinery breakdown, fidelity
guarantee, public liability etc.
14. Business all risks this policy covers the property of the insured against
accidental loss or damage. This cover is suitable for portable items like
cameras, laptops, personal computers, videos, baggage etc.
15. Employers liability this policy offers protection to employers for their legal
liability (under common law), for damages and claimant’s costs and
expenses of lawsuits filed by an employee.
16. Fidelity guarantee this policy is intended to cover against the risks of
forgery, embezzlement, larceny and/or fraudulent conversion of money
committed by the insured’s entrusted named employees.
17. Marine cargo this type of insurance provides covers against loss and/or
damage to vessels/ship’s hull and machineries, materials and other
equipment of the vessel including collision/TPL risks.
18. Workmen’s compensation this policy covers the employees of the insured
whilst on duty and engaged in the execution of the insured’s business or any
project undertaken by the insured, against accidental bodily injury,
disablement or death.
19. Group personal accident these policies cover accidental death or
disablement to the insured. Compensation will be payable to the insured or
to his legal representative in accordance with the sum insured and scale of
compensation agreed and specified in the policy schedule.
20. Glass insurance this policy covers the breakage of glass through any cause
(except the exclusions specified in the policy). It pays a sum equal to the
cost of the broken glass calculated at the current price of glass on the date of
accident, up to the value specified in the policy schedule.

Other products include;

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 21. Boiler and pressure vessel.
22. Buildings combined.
23. Directors and officers liability.
24. Tour operators liability.
25. Motor trade risks.
26. Industrial all risks.
27. Public liability.
28. Industrial all risks.

f) Activities and operations

The company has a number of activities of activities that it does so as to reach its
objectives. The activities are delegated through various departments by which the
company operates. So each the different activities from different departments are
performed while some activities usually link one or two departments. Also the
activities can also be categorized differently as primary activities and secondary
activities.

 Primary activities – those affecting the company’s profit margin

directly such as underwriting, investment and marketing.
 Secondary activities – those supervising primary activities
including auditing, actuarial valuations and data base
management.

Also, the summary of the activities from different departments can be seen below.

Underwriting department

 Assessing the risk of a new business.

 Pricing of the business.
 New business registration.
 Creating policy wordings.
 Policy renewals.

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Claims department

 Claim assessment.
 Claim payments.

Finance department

 Preparation of periodical financial reports.

 Recording daily financial transactions.
 Investment appraising.
 Financial data entry.

IT department

 Data-base management.
 Company’s system software management.
 Running the company’s online website.

Marketing department

 Advertising new products.

 Ensure maximum penetration of the existing products.
 Handling customer needs.

a) Achievements

Heritage’s achievements can be attributed to prudent and professional management,

financial strength, sustained support from its business partners and it is the choice of
most leading business houses in Tanzania including:
 Barrick Gold.
 Geita Gold.
 Tanzania Breweries Limited.
 Vodacom.
 Tanzania Ports Authority.
 And 2800+ clients.

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 CHAPTER TWO

HOW ACTIVITIES WERE DONE (METHODOLOGY)

In this chapter more focus will be on the activities performed in various departments
of the company. Of the eight weeks that I spent at the company doing my practical
training, I spent five (5) weeks at the Claims department, one (1) at the Finance
department and two (2) at the Underwriting department. Below are the activities
performed in various departments of the company during my practical training.

1) UNDERWRITING AND REINSURANCE DEPARTMENT

This department is majorly concerned for assessing and selecting the kind of
business (risks) to be accepted by the company. Being a general insurance the
company only accepts property, casualty and liability risks from individuals and
organizations. The risks are then assessed by the department if they are within the
capacity of the company. The company also has its retention limit for accepting risks,
above that the amount remaining is ceded to a reinsurer. This is where re-insurance
comes to play. So in assessing risks the amount ceded to each party is calculated to
know the proportion of risk accounted to each party. The whole process of
underwriting is done through the computerized system called PREMIA. Below is a
list of activities performed in the department.

i. Calculation of premium rates

This is one among the main activities carried out under the underwriting department
where the activity involves the calculation of rate of premium that one has to be
charged in order to accept a certain risk. In the Tanzania Insurance industry,
premium rates are calculated using the rates provided by TIRA (Tanzania Insurance
Regulatory Authority) and the insurance companies are out to abide with these rates
when accepting different businesses. Some company might think of charging a small
amount of premium in order to attract customers but this will violate the regulations
set by TIRA and that company will be accountable of doing so.

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Example, in motor insurance if one decides to purchase a third party cover, the
annual premium the annual premium that one will have to pay is TZS. 118,000/=,
which includes TZS.100,00 as the price of the cover and a VAT of 18% of the price
which is TZS. 18,000.

Generally, the premium rate to be charged for a given product can be calculated
using the following formula;

Gross Premium Received

𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑢𝑚 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑑 =
Total Sum Insured

ii. Creating a policy schedule

A policy schedule is an outline of the cover provided under the policy, it shows
details of the policyholder, what the policy holder does and the cover given and the
relevant limits, sum insured and excess. So this acts as a summary to both the
company and the policyholder whenever details about the policy are needed. Also it
is used by other departments when assessing claims concerning the policy and for
reconciliation. The format of the schedule was created through the PREMIA system
and so this made work easier because we only needed to print and file them when
needed.

iii. Registering and updating of motor policy details in the TIRA-MIS

TIRA-MIS is an online system that can be accessed by insurance companies that

provide motor insurance cover. In this system, once an insurance company has
accepted to insure a certain motor or renewed a policy, it is supposed to update the
cover in the TIRA-MIS. After doing so, different government bodies such as the
Traffic Police Officers can access to see if a certain vehicle has an insurance cover or
not.

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 iv. Policy renewals

Whenever the duration of the policy was about to end, the customer had to renew the
contract for another year, the company notifies almost all policyholders regarding
their policy renewals. When the premium is paid another contract is to be made
which is a continuation of the expired contract. So we had to work on all policy
renewals and create their corresponding policy schedules. This was all done through
the PREMIA system. The system holds previous information of various policies so it
was easy to track all the expiring policies requiring renewal.

v. Registration or booking of new business

This is very similar to policy renewals except the fact that this time we are dealing
with new business. After accepting a particular business, the underwriter has to
register the claim for future purposes. So details containing the policyholder and
policy he has bought must be kept in record. So this was done on a daily basis as new
business kept entering the company regularly and I was assigned to register them.
This was also done through the PREMIA computerized system.

vi. Reinsurance

Reinsurance simply means the insurance for insurance companies. The company has
multiple reinsurers (Tan-Re, Africa-Re, EA-Re, Swiss-Re) to carry out its
reinsurance purposes. The company carries out re-insurance due to the following
purposes;

 Increase business capacity.

 Limit catastrophic claims (security).
 Transfer investment risks.
 Stability.

As seen above the major aim for the company to seek reinsurance is for increasing
the business capacity. By carrying out reinsurance the company can now insure even
larger risks without fearing for insolvency. This is a very important factor because

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the riskier products are the ones who ultimately provide for higher returns. Forms of
reinsurance sought by the company are as follows;

 Facultative reinsurance. This is the reinsurance for a single risk or a

defined package of risks i.e; The Company is not compelled to submit
these risks to the reinsurer but neither is the reinsurer compelled to
provide reinsurance protection.
 Treaty reinsurance. The reinsurance company accepts all risks of a
particular type from the company.
 Proportional Reinsurance. The company and the reinsurer share the risk
in defined proportions. This can either be surplus share or quota share. In
a surplus share the company determines the maximum loss it can retain
for each risk in the portfolio. In a quota share all risks are shared with a
fixed percentage to each party.
 Non proportional reinsurance. In this arrangement company agrees to
accept losses up to a predetermined level. The arrangement can either be
excess of loss or stop loss. The company only uses excess of loss
arrangement where the company sets out its retention layers to retained by
the company and the ones to be ceded.

The major activities from the department was to calculate the amount ceded to each
party ceded to each party for a particular reinsurance arrangement. So manual
calculations were done to check the validity of the previous calculated amounts
written in policy schedules.\

vii. Capacity training

I also had training with the underwriting department, the major aim of the training
was to improve the underwriting skills of the company by increasing the awareness
of the major products offered by the company and their limits. The training was done
each Tuesday were all underwriting officers met with the general manager to have a
session concerning various underwriting issues.

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 viii. Issuing of sticker books to brokers

This activity involved first registering of the sticker books in the TIRA MIS in order
to make them valid in issuing stickers. The sticker books were of different types such
as commercial vehicles sticker books, public service sticker books, motor private
sticker books and motor cycles sticker books. As the company has brokers such as
ARIS and MINET, at some days I was assigned a task to register these books in the
TIRA MIS and in office’s book and issue letters stating the type of a book and the
number of books issued to a certain broker. The stickers could then be issued to
customers who will report at the offices of the brokers

ix. Creating stickers for motor insurance vehicles

The stickers act as an identification of any car being insured since each car on the
road must have any type of motor insurance as ordered by the law. After receiving of
the premium under motor insurance, an underwriting officer has to issue a sticker to
an insured to validate the cover and for identification purposes as stated earlier.

The following documents are the sample policy schedules for Motor and Non-Motor
policies.

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MOTOR PRIVATE POLICY SCHEDULE

15
A SAMPLE OF A NON-MOTOR POLICY SCHEDULE

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 2) CLAIMS DEPARTMENT
This was the department where I spent most of time and learnt a lot about how
insurance companies deal with the process of settling different reported claims.
Claim assessment was the main activity done under this department which involved
validating a claim to be liable for compensation by the company since not all claims
being reported are valid or can be compensated. Some are invalid or outcomes of
fraud; due to this the company has set out a team whose major job is to account for
this. The whole process of claim assessment is done in seven steps. Each step is
accounts for the same activity done; these steps are as follows;

i. Intimation of the claim

This involves reporting of a claim incurred by an insured. The reporting can be

done through a broker or directly coming at the office. If the claimant will report a
claim to a broker, the broker will have to write an email to the claims department
reporting on the given claim. On the other hand, an insured may opt to come
directly at the office and this is for the direct insureds. In both cases, the company
provides a claim form to the claimant. A claim form is used to provide the summary
of the damage and to get preliminary information concerning the claim. The
policyholder must fill and return the form to the company.

ii. Provision of supporting documents by the claimant

After reporting of the claim, the policyholder will be required to provide different
supporting documents the will be used in the process of settling the claim.
Depending on a given claim, say a motor accident, the claims department requires
documents such as few photos showing the vehicle involved in the accident,
driver’s driving license, sketch map from a traffic officer, repair estimates from a
recognized garage, vehicle inspection report, vehicle registration card, and either a
police report-PF90 form or a PF115.

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iii. Registration of the claim

After receiving above documents, the next step is registration of the reported claim
both manually in the claims book and in the system (PREMIA). A claim has first to
be registered manually and assign it a manual number that can easily be used to
trace the file of a given claim when needed. Registration of a claim in the system
(PREMIA) is of a paramount importance as it enables the three department together
with the management to confirm on different issues related to the claim at different
times. The management, especially the CEO can have access to any claim and
either agree or even disagree in paying a given claim. A claims officer has to set a
reserve (an estimate of what may be paid to the claimant) in the system so as the
finance department and the management to be aware of some IBNS claims.

It should be known that, once a claim has been registered manually, a file is opened
that will contain the supporting documents and other letters and reports that will be
issued later in the process of settling the claim. A check list is attached with the file
so as anyone who will pass through the claim will see a summary of documents that
are present in the file and what may be missing.

iv. Confirm premium payment

Before dealing with any claim, the claims department has first to check if the
claimant is a policyholder at the time of accident. The claims department,
cooperating with the finance department will look in the system if the mentioned
insured has paid premium for the reported subject matter. A claims officer will fill a
premium confirmation form and take it to a finance officer who will have to check
if the premium was really paid or not. This has to be done in order to avoid
processing of a claim whose cover had already expired.

v. Loss assessment

After the registration of a claim, what follows next is the assessment of a given
reported claim. The assessment can either be internal assessment where a claim
officer from the office will be appointed and go to check the give subject matter
involved. This is usually done for minor claims whose claimed amounts is just

18
small and does not need appointing of a loss assessor. The second type of
assessment is through the appointment of a loss assessor where an assessor is an
individual with quite good knowledge of a certain subject matter. Most claims that
will need a loss assessor are the claims of a little bit huge amounts and the company
might not be aware of the matter and thus they have to find another person who can
really assess if the reported loss is genuine and if to be paid, how much the
company pay should. In both types of assessment a simple report has to be prepared
showing the actual cause of the loss, claimed amounts, adjustments that have to be
made ( mostly in the policies with “excess” ), and the actual amount that the
company has to pay.

vi. Preparing the offer for the claimant

After making a loss assessment, the report from a loss assessor or an appointed
claims officer will be used to prepare a payment letter stating the amount of money
the company will pay after assessing the loss. This payment letter is a letter of
payment that will either be made of a garage (for the case of a motor claim), or
directly to an insured (for the case of non-motor claims).

An insured has an option of either accepting or not accepting the offer that the
company has given. Not accepting comes when an insured feels like the offer is
very small compared to what he/she believes he/she is supposed to receive as
compensation.

vii. Payment of the compensation

Once a claimant has agreed to the offer the company has given, payments have to
be made immediately to the claimant. Under the claims department, this is done by
confirming of a stated amount in the payment letter and paying it through the
system to either a claimant or garage depending on the type of the reported claim.
On so doing, the CEO or the MD will also have to confirm these payments in the
system before the finance department does the transferring of the stated monies to
settle a given claim.

After so doing, the claimant will now be indemnified.

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SOME OF THE SAMPLE DOCUMENTS USED IN THE
PROCESS OF SETTLING A CLAIM
SAMPLE CLAIM FORM FOR MOTOR ACCIDENTS

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 A MOTOR CLAIM CHECKLIST

A NON-MOTOR CLAIM CHECKLIST

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 3) FINANCE AND ACCOUNTS DEPARTMENT
This is a very vital department among the tree as it deals with keeping of the records
of different financial transactions made but also receiving and making a track on
earned premiums, transferring of funds for the settlement of claims and other
managerial functions. I spent only few of my time in this department but that did not
hinder me from learning different activities they are done by people involved here.
The major activities done in the department are as follows;

i. Preparation of financial statements and reconciliation

These include balance sheets and profit and loss accounts which shows the financial
position of the company at a specific point in time. These statements are prepared
periodically at equal time intervals. i.e. quarterly and semi-annually.

ii. Financial data entry

As said before the finance department also deals with recording financial transaction
for future reconciliation. The company has a database system which deals with
storing data from various department of the company. I was assigned to enter all
payments made by the company into the finance data base system which will be used
in the preparation of financial statements and allocation of future budget to be used
by the company.

iii. Creation of payment receipts and receipt reports

When payments are made to the company, receipts must be made to keep records of
them. So my daily activity from the department was to create receipts for all cash and
cheque payments made to the company. Also outstanding receipt reports were made
on a daily basis. These reports provide a summary of the number of payments made
to the company and to reconcile with the actual amount received by the company.
This was done in the excel package.

iv. Premium payment confirmation

Premium pricing was done in the underwriting department and the corresponding
confirmation was done in the finance department. This is done to avoid any
debtors before the payment of the claim. Any customer claiming for compensation
must have paid all the premium payments liable to him/her.

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 CHAPTER THREE

COMMENTS AND DUTIES PERFORMED

a) General expectations

Before going for the practical training, there were a number of expectations that I had
concerning the types of activities and knowledge I would gain from the company.
The following are some of the expectations that I had;

 I had expected to learn various actuarial practices in insurance companies

such pricing and reserving.

 Learning how people in the work organizations behave, relate, cooperate and
then manage to execute their daily duties and responsibilities.

 Learning new practical things that happen in work organizations that can
develop my academic career and challenge my focus and perception about the
future.

 Learning in practice how reinsurance works under its two forms; proportional
and non-proportional reinsurance.
 Learning and if possible taking part in products designing and pricing in
general insurance.

 Creating a potential and memorable picture during my practical training that

could impose a good reputation into the heads of the employees together with
the management for future employment prospects.

The above points point out few of what I expected before commencing my training at
the heritage insurance company.

Right after commencing my training on 22nd of July, 2019, I came to realize that
probably it is not appropriate having too much expectations in anything that you are
about to take. By the time I was winding up my practical training I had to look back

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on my check list and see to what extent were my expectations met and that was when
I had the following remarks;

Generally, most of what I learnt was based on improving my technical skills and
professional character. The technical skills were generated from various tasks given
to me in the training. These were based on written and verbal communication
through writing emails and exchanging information with various staff of the
company. Also I had gained computing skills through Microsoft office as most of the
activities provided to me were performed in that platform.

Also relevant skills based on insurance practices such as underwriting of insurance

products, claims processing, reconciliation of financial statements and reinsurance
were gained. These were gained through various activities performed in each
department of the company.

I managed to learn how people in the work organizations behave, relate, cooperate
and then manage to execute their daily duties and responsibilities as the employees
always maintained a spirit of teamwork. Every employee gave me a positive
response together with maximum cooperation during throughout my training at the
company.

I was really inspired by an actuarial alumnus, Mr. Japhet who was the company’s
actuarial analyst who always advised me on how I would build myself career-wise
which is by start siting for the actuarial professional exams which will add value in
me in the industry when it comes to seeking for an employment opportunity.

On the issue of creating a memorable picture, I tried very hard to perform all the
tasks in time, arriving early at the office, maintaining good communication skills
with everyone for future employment prospect.

On the other side, not all of my expectations were met as I expected to do more
actuarial works since it was what I was being taught at the University.

I had hoped to learn more of the actuarial practices in insurance companies as learnt
in class, but this was not always the case. I expected to be taken through reinsurance

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in practice but this was never made clear to me as reinsurance matters were only
performed by the head of underwriting department whose office was not close to
where I was doing my day-to-day activities.

On top of that, product development and pricing was something that I never heard of
during my training. This did not meet my expectation and ended up disappointing
me.

b) Challenges (Problems faced)

Some of the expectations were not met, this was due to the following challenges;

i. Heritage Insurance is a general insurance company thus it does not offer

life insurance products, this was a hindrance for me because actuarial
practices are performed mostly in life insurance products thus this limited
the scope of what I might have learnt.
ii. Time constraint. The duration of the practical training is merely 8 weeks.
This I had found was not enough the totally familiarize and capture all
what the company had to offer. Some of the activities performed is some
departments were not performed in full details because of this.
iii. Lack of a scheduled timetable for my activities in the company. Activities
performed in the company were in random order, rotation between one
department and the other was not planned on the first place, so too much
time was spent on one department than the other, this created gaps as I
learnt more from the claims department than from the other departments.
iv. Financial constraint. This was the biggest challenge during my field
training. This is because there were no allowances provided for my meals
and transportation to the office. Therefore it was my own responsibility to
provide for this but I would be better off if someone else did considering
the amount of time and work I had delivered to the company. Also
Financial support accounts for adding motivation and drive to keep with
the same level of consistency across the whole training period. There was
an opportunity to continue the training for one more month but the lack of
financial support was a huge hindering factor.

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 v. The Company has no Actuarial Department. This hindered me from
knowing how an actuary comes into play in an insurance company and the
major corresponding activities performed by him/her. And also to provide
a clear picture of the various actuarial practices in the insurance industry.
vi. Some of the activities were not familiar to the theories taught in class.

c) New things learnt

Heritage Insurance taught me numerous things and these can be summarized as
follows;

i. Technical Skills
 Computing Skills with Microsoft Office.
 Communication Skills (Verbal and Written)
 Presentation Skills.
 The Computerized System i.e. PREMIA

ii. Professional Skills

 Work Ethic.
 Punctuality.
 Teamwork.
 Communication.
 Discipline.
iii. Academic Related Content
 Claim Assessing.
 Financial Reconciliation.
 Pricing and Reserving.
 Creating policy schedules and the whole underwriting process.
 Creation of receipt reports.
 Data Entry.

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d) Academic Gap
Most of the theories learnt in class are parallel to the real world insurance
industry. The principles of insurance and reinsurance are widely used across the
underwriting and reinsurance departments respectively. Also financial statements
are also made periodically with relevant details to what we had learnt in theory.
Also the company’s internal control and management uses principles and
guidelines which can also be accounted theoretically.\

The only gap I noticed was concerning the conduct of actuarial assessments and
practice in the company. Most actuarial related ideas and concepts are not
performed in the company hence most of the things learnt in class weren’t seen in
the company. This maybe because of the fact that Heritage Insurance is a general
insurance company and most actuarial practices are applied in life insurance
products, also the awareness of the actuarial profession is little across the whole
industry.

Also most activities performed in the company where computerized without the
need to performed hand calculations. This can be seen as a technological gap
between theory and practice. The theories learnt in class use a more outdated
methodology than what is actually done in the real world sector.

e) Employment Prospects
The opportunity to be employed by the Heritage Insurance Company is something
that I wouldn’t let pass. The company has all the tools, equipment and the required
personnel that will provide a wide scope for me to enhance my knowledge and utilize
my skills towards the growth of the company. Also the working environment is so
quiet and peaceful and the working staff are so welcoming and friendly. The
company also provides insurance benefits to each of its employees. Also with the
proposed addition by TIRA which requires each insurance company to encompass an
actuarial department, this will even provide an opportunity for me to learn and
enhance my skills concerning various actuarial practices in insurance companies.
Generally I consider the company a good fit for pursuing my ambitions and develop
my career.

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 f) Relevance of Practical Training
The field training I can say was highly successful, the output it had on me was highly
valuable as it helped me to learn a huge deal about the relevance of the actuarial
profession, the insurance industry and work ethic. Also it has helped me to connect
various theories learnt in class with how are they applied in the insurance industry.
So I believe the practical training provides an equal weight as the theory learnt in
class in our learning process. The skills I learnt from the training could never be
learnt in class and this makes it an important learning tool for University Students.
So generally practical training is so relevant especially for our actuarial science
profession which is so practical as it provides the necessary skills and work
experience which will help us in the future.

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 CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

a) Strengths and Weaknesses
As said before the field training has numerous strengths than weaknesses as it intends
to emphasize on the theory we had learnt in class. Students have now seen the
connection between the materials learnt in class and how they are applied in real
world situations. It also enables students to obtain the necessary skills (technical and
non-technical) which they would not be able to learn in class. A summary of the
strengths and weaknesses of the field training can be seen below:

i. Strengths
 Enables students to learn new skills. Through field training, students
will now be able to acquire new skills while performing different
activities given to them in the training. Example; Computing skills
were gained since most of the activities performed were through
Microsoft Office package in the computer. Also written and verbal
communication was common through writing emails and sharing
information between the staff and I.
 Relates the class materials with their real world applications. The
training also enabled me to relate what I had learnt in class and how
different theories and concepts are applied in practice. So the training
can be seen as practical learning session to us for us to get a more clear
understanding of what we were taught in class. Example: The company
uses The principles of Insurance to underwrite its business which was
previously learnt in class, so I learnt how these principles are
accounted for in practice,. The same can be said for Pricing,
Reinsurance and Financial statement reconciliation.
 Work Ethic and professionalism. Also the training implants work
ethic and professional character which will help us excel in the future
while attempting to reach our goals. We had to adhere to a strict

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 working timetable across the whole period, the same timetable that the
company has set out for its employees. This helped to test our
punctuality, discipline, accountability and integrity.
 Increased our professional network cycle. This helps when seeking
for advice and opportunities in the future.

ii. Weaknesses
 Time constraint. The only major weakness comes from the length of
the training. The duration of 8 weeks was inadequate to capture
information from the whole organization. In the end I spent more time
in the claims department than other departments.
 Some of the activities weren’t familiar to the theory taught in class.

b) Recommendations

The following are my recommendations on how to improve the field training so as to

make it more effective and efficient to all students.

To The Heritage Insurance Tanzania

 Having an arranged and detailed timetable for all interns coming into the
company listing the activities to be performed and their corresponding
duration so as to ensure that a student passes through every department
during his practical training.
 Involving students in product designing and development so as to promote
innovation and create an insurance competitive industry.
 Provision of allowances to all interns.
 Encompassing the Actuarial department so as to make more informed
decisions relating to the future profitability of the company and also to
provide a wider learning session to actuarial students.

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To the University of Dar Es Salaam
 The duration of the training should be elongated. The training may be done
for the same 8 weeks it should also be done during the first year of our
studies.
 The training should also include a research component to expand our sense
of innovation.
 The current curriculum should be improved so as to account for the current
and future technology changes. As said before most of the activities were
performed through computer, so the syllabus should encompass the
computing skills needed in the current and future market. Example; R
statistical programming.
 The scope of the companies to be placed by the training should be widened as
the actuarial profession can be applied to more diverse areas.

c) Conclusion
Generally the training I had at Heritage Tanzania was a huge success, this is due to
many reasons but the major one is that it has helped me to generate the necessary
work-related skills together with being familiar with work environment together with
the expectations that come with it. I am sure this will be a great asset/tool to make
me propel in future circumstances in my career. The company managed to shape me
while performing various activities as they required diligence, sharpness and
punctuality. On the other hand it has helped me provide a greater understanding to
the materials I had previous learnt in class. Therefore the spent I had spent on the
company was well accounted for.

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 CHAPTER FIVE

REFERENCES

 http//:www.heritagetanzania.com
 Underwriting guidebook and Heritage Insurance Brochure.
 Provided Practical Training Logbook
 George E.R & Michael M (2013). Principles of Insurance and Risk
Management.
 Istanbul (2015). Motor Insurance Pricing; Current and Future Innovation

END

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