El Asegurador Magazine Jul-Sep 22

Remote work was adopted
in our company long before it
was mandatory. We introduced
it gradually: first, for staff of
certain age and conditions
and pregnant women. Then,
by the time the lockdown was
imposed, we were already
prepared.
On the financial side, we
focused on liquidity. At
that time, there was a lot
of uncertainty, we did not
know exactly how this would
impact the collection of
premiums. Therefore, liquid
assets allowed us to meet
all our responsibilities, such
as paying salaries, settling
claims, paying vendors,
etcetera. In other words,
all we did was keeping the
machine running.
In that regard, we could say
we did not let anyone go, we
did not cut off benefits, we did
not dismiss anyone and we kept
all our staff working from home
which, I think, was a very
important achievement since
we witnessed many industries
suffer during the pandemic.
EAM: And from the client side of
view, what measures did ASSA
Compañía de Seguros implement
so clients could not notice
the devastating effects of the
pandemic, especially during the
most severe moments of this
health crisis?
RS: We adopted several
measures for our clients’
benefit. We were the only local
company in El Salvador which
implemented a bonus called
Stay at home, intended to be
cashed by the holders of Car
policies.
Through this bonus, we
reimbursed our clients with
a percentage of the premium
because we realized cars were
parked —they were not on
the streets due to pandemic
restrictions— and users had
already paid for coverage that
they weren’t really using. This
was our way of helping them.
Another thing we did, which
speaks of the mindset of the
company, was realizing that
some methods had never been
implemented in an environment
like the one generated by the
COVID, which meant they
were not ready to reflect
the claims. Therefore, we
decided to make voluntary
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EL ASEGURADOR® MAGAZINE