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An insurance agent is a registered professional who, through an agency contract, mediates between the insured person who demands a service and the insurance company that offers it in order to reach an agreement between the two in exchange for a fee or commission.
That is, this figure has as its main task to put in contact who is interested in a insurance determined and to whom you can offer it. Therefore, its main task is to inform and advise the taker according to the conditions offered by the company it represents. For this service, you receive a compensation from the insurance company.
How to be an insurance agent
The legislation that regulates this profession, which is usually similar in most countries, raises a number of necessary conditions. Some have to do with the contract to be signed and others with the characteristics of the person will carry out the activity.
- First, the contract The agency will always be commercial and non-labor. In this way, the agent must be a self-employed worker.
- This agreement will consider everything that the parties freely consider.
- The agent can be a Physical person or one legal entity in its different corporate or cooperative modalities.
- On the other hand, it must have legal capacity to exercise trade and not only to contract. In addition, it must be registered in the corresponding professional body.
- Regarding his person, he must be someone who has demonstrated commercial and professional honor in the exercise of his work.
- For the exercise of its functions you may hire collaborators, as long as it is specified in the contract. These will be under the responsibility of the insurance agent.
Relationship with the insurance company
The agent and the company are related by the clauses of the agency contract. The legislation usually requires, as a mandatory condition, the impossibility of promoting the change of insurance entity to the clients for the conflict of interest once the insurance contracts are signed. Separate issue is the advice when it is the insured who requests it.
On the other hand, the commissions to be received are established between the parties. They usually include a new signed insurance amount and others for client portfolio. Once the contract ends, both parties can and should communicate it to the affected customers. This is because they must be informed, since they signed said service through the mediator.
Types of insurance agents
In relation to the types of agents, these can be classified according to whether or not they have exclusivity with any company.
- On the one hand, there are the exclusive ones, which work only for one company. In this way, only the exclusive agency can authorize you to work with other companies. The agent acts as a mediator and on behalf of the insurer for legal purposes. In addition, you must be available for the necessary knowledge depending on the services you will offer to customers.
- The other type is the linked one, which allows working with different insurance companies. In this way, they act as an independent agent and can contract with the company they deem appropriate. These are becoming less frequent.