The Insurance Association of Malawi (IAM) in conjunction with General Insurance Companies in Malawi have launched a new digital motor vehicle insurance certificate effectively responding to a call by the Government of Malawi to transition the country’s economy, including insurance services, into digital.
IAM started issuing digital insurance certificates from October 10, 2023, and will also continue to issue pre-printed certificates until 31 December 2023. In other words, the two types of insurance certificates are being issued concurrently during this transitioning period.
“IAM will no longer use pre-printed insurance certificates for printing insurance certificates with effect from 1st January 2024. The pre-printed insurance certificate will still be valid for motorists use until 31 December 2024. Effective 1st January 2025, only digital motor insurance certificates will be accepted on the roads of Malawi,” reads a statement from the association.
The introduction of a digital motor insurance requires that all general insurance companies should now use one system for the insuance of insurance certificates thereby creating one database for keeping all motor insurance certificate records.
Chairperson of the Innovation and Project Committee at the Insurance Association of Malawi, Donbell Mandala, told journalists in Blantyre on Thursday that the implementation of legislation on motor insurance will now be easier in addition to eliminating fraudulent motor certificates on the Malawian motor insurance market.
“The certificate can be digitally verified, therefore it can not be forged. The system can also be used to register vehicles that have been stolen. If a vehicle is registered in the system as stolen, law enforcement agencies can detect it during spot checks. During the insurance verification exercise any stolen vehicle will be flagged out,” said Mandala.
Among others, the new digital certificate is presented in PDF format and does not require specialised paper to print.
It can be sent to a client through email or whatsapp or any other digital means of sending a digital document. The digital certificate can be printed from anywhere using A4 paper.
Additionally, the new system has opened doors for insurance companies, brokers and agents to start selling motor insurance online since the system has the capabilities to integrate with other systems such as the Directorate of Road Traffic and Safety Services (DRTSS Maltis), National Registration Bureau (NRB), mobile and bank payments system.
“Because of the introduction of this digital insurance certificate, there will be some changes and benefits that need to be taken note of, including: when printed on paper, it will be presented in a disk form, like the certificate of fitness (COF) provided by DRTSS. The digital certificate displays the insurance certificate number, vehicle registration number, vehicle chassis number, make and model of vehicle, vehicle colour, vehicle seating capacity and picture of the body type of the vehicle,” Mandala explained.
According to Mandala, the digital certificate displays the insurance policy duration, policy issue date, policy number, policyholder, insurance cover type, vehicle usage.
It also displays the digital means by which the certificate can be verified whether it is authentic or not.
“The digital certificate has a state of the art QR Code security feature that can be used to decode the authenticity of the insurance certificate. This can be done using QR Code scanner software provided by Insurance Association of Malawi and can be downloaded from apple store or play store,” he narrated.
On enforcement and verification of the digital motor insurance certificate, Mandala said motorists will still be required to display the digital certificates on the windshield/windscreen of their vehicles.
However, by design of the new system, enforcement agencies can verify whether a vehicle has valid insurance or not by using the registration number of the vehicle and/or the certificate number of the printed certificate.
He said the new certificate can be verified by using a mobile phone in two ways, thus using Malawi Communication Regulatory Authority (MACRA) authorised USSD Code *4273#. Verification can be done using TNM or Airtel registered numbers across the country and it is free of charge.
Using a Mobile Smart App developed by the Insurance Association of Malawi. The mobile smart app can be downloaded and installed from the Android Play Store or IOS App Store. Search word for smart apps is “IAM Insurance Smart App”.
Manuals on how to use this verification method will be provided. This insurance verification method will require a smartphone, internet availability and the smart app installed on your smartphone.
In future, scanners will be deployed in designated places to be used for the verification of the digital certificates
