Insurance ad war hotting up

With the insurance advertising war hotting up, some insurance firms are raising issues with the regulator about unethical campaigns, while some accuse each other of imitating products, according to industry sources.

“Some of us wrote to the Insurance Board of Sri Lanka (IBSL) regarding unethical practices and advertising in the industry, because the industry is becoming a laughing stock,” an official from one of the insurance companies told The Sunday Times FT.
He said the firms had reiterated that it is not a complaint, but an “observation”. “They want to know what the IBSL is doing about it and whether they also feel that it is an unethical practice,” he said.

He said this was raised following Ceylinco Insurance’s ad campaign on their motor vehicle insurance, titled VIP- warning the customers to beware of ‘copy cats’. “It is not in the best practices to carry out such a campaign,” he added.

However Ceylinco Insurance refuted these allegations saying that that it is a competitive market and such things are common practice. “We did a value addition to our motor vehicle insurance product and two days later a competitor launched a similar product, where the benefits are identical.

We are trying to give the correct picture to the customers and make them aware,” Senaka Rajapakse, AGM, Marketing told The Sunday Times FT.

He also noted that Ceylinco has had a series of experiences in competitors imitating their products. “We are friendly competitors but when we advertise it is strictly business,” he added.

Lasinee Seresinhe, Director General, IBSL confirmed that she had received some correspondence with regard to unethical campaigns, but for IBSL to express an opinion, there has to be an investigation.

“Under the Insurance Act IBSL only has the power to issue a direction on information that is incorrect, false or misleading. Without proof of such an incident we cannot issue a direction,” she reiterated.