Page 18 - The Insurance Times January 2025

Insurance Demystified

Customer trust

and Trust deficit -

An oxymoron in

Trust Continuum Prof (Dr) Abhijit K.Chattoraj

Chartered Insurer - Professor and
Director -Executive Program and
Consulting - IMS Unison University,
Dehradun, India.

Trust is a much-used, misused, and often abused word in insurance terminology. The entire
insurance business is executed based on trust, yet misselling occurs in routine regularity, misusing
the trust used to garner the business.

T rust is a much-used, misused, and often abused thiness would lead to exploitation. Confucius elaborates that
trustworthiness is considered the most sought-after trait
word in insurance terminology. The entire insur-
while employing someone. The qualities like strength, abil-
ance business is executed based on trust, yet
misselling occurs in routine regularity, misusing ity to flatter, or eloquence matter only when one is trust-
the trust used to garner the business. Insurers abuse trust worthy. Good governance flourishes when one person can
when genuine claims are not paid or are inordinately de- rely on someone. In the Analects, Confucius urged his dis-
layed for want of adequate domain knowledge. The power ciple Tzu-Kung that good governance depends primarily on
of trust is immense. Trust defines the corporate success the easy availability of food to feed its population, military
today. Trusted organizations are relied upon by customers prowess to protect its people, and trustworthiness reposed
while making a purchase decision. The presence of trustwor- on the ruler. All these three pillars are essential, but If the
thiness allows a person to take control of others. Insurers people do not find the ruler trustworthy, the state will not
have not used the power of trustworthiness to dispel grave stand. Trustworthiness, righteousness, ritual propriety, and
doubts and apprehensions that mire the insurance business. wisdom are strong virtues. However, trustworthiness is the
Trust deficit as a result is palpable everywhere which cer-
tainly is a bane. Customer trust and Trust deficit, thus, an
Ì ® « ­ ¬ ¼»º·½ ·¬ ¿­ ¿ ®»­ « ´¬ ·­ °¿´°¿¾ ´»
oxymoron in the continuum of trust. One moves away from
full trust as and when a trust deficit creeps into any cus- »ª »® § ©¸ »® » ©¸ ·½ ¸ ½ »® ¬¿·² ´§ ·­ ¿ ¾ ¿² »ò
tomer relationship. Ý « ­ ¬± ³ »® ¬® « ­ ¬ ¿² ¼ Ì ® « ­ ¬ ¼»º·½ ·¬ô ¬¸ « ­ ô ¿²
± ¨ § ³ ± ® ± ² ·² ¬¸ » ½ ± ² ¬·² « « ³ ± º ¬® « ­ ¬ò Ñ ² »
'In the Analects, Confucius maintains that a trustworthy ³ ± ª »­ ¿©¿§ º® ± ³ º« ´´ ¬® « ­ ¬ ¿­ ¿² ¼ ©¸ »² ¿
person is given responsibility." In other words, a person ¬® « ­ ¬ ¼»º·½ ·¬ ½ ® »»°­ ·² ¬± ¿² § ½ « ­ ¬± ³ »®
bereft of trustworthiness will not be assigned responsibility. ® »´¿¬·± ² ­ ¸ ·° ò
Any form of governance without the element of trustwor-

16 January 2025 The Insurance Times