The Ethical Responsibilities and the Liability of Insurance Intermediaries in Cameroon

Abstract

The importance of insurance in modern economies is unquestioned and has been recognised for

centuries. Insurance “is practically a necessity to business activity and enterprise.”As players with both

broad knowledge of the insurance marketplace, including products, prices and providers, and an acute

sense of the needs of insurance purchasers, intermediaries have a unique role – indeed many roles – to

play in the insurance markets in particular and, more generally, in the functioning of national and

international economies. In today’s complex insurance marketplace, however, intermediaries have

become more than middlemen between insurance companies and insurance buyers. Despite a strict

legislative regime and pro-consumer developments, insurance intermediaries still fail to disclose

material and onerous terms in their dealings with prospective policyholders. This paper seeks to

investigate the rules that aim to regulate the up-front, honest disclosure of onerous terms to the

prospective policyholder, and tries to answer the question of whether the intermediaries and advisors

comply with their duties to disclose onerous terms to prospective policyholders. Adopting a doctrinal

research method, it is observed that intermediaries in Cameroon are involved in misappropriation of the

insured premium, rate cutting among others. The establishment of an effective, monitoring and

enforcement mechanism is vital to ensure compliance with the regulations in enforce.