Life insurance products becoming popular in Ghana – GIA
Mr Edward Forkua Kyei, Managing Director of GLICO Life on Tuesday disclosed that Life Insurance products, especially funeral policy, is becoming popular in Ghana.
“With these kinds of products, which we classify under insurance and investment, clients get a pay-out at a point in time so they see real benefit from their deduction,” he explained.
Comparing the current trend to previous years, he explained that, people are well aware and recognize the benefits of procuring those range of products.
Mr Kyei, stated during the maiden edition of “Claims and Underwriting Klinic,” that despite the rush for life products the country’s insurance penetration, was less than two per cent and called on companies to educate the public on the need to buy insurance products.
The meeting, organised by the Technical Committee of the Ghana Insurers Association in Accra, seeks to build the capacity of insurance technical personnel and claim evaluators to discharge their duties effectively and efficiently.
It was to help update the knowledge of personnel on modern trends, threats, and share ideas to be able to sustain the industry while clients receive the rightful services.
Mr Kyei noted that the operational definition of insurance in Ghana was different from other countries, clarifying that; “if we group private and the National Health Insurance as well as Social Security and National Insurance Trust as other countries do, then insurance penetration will be higher than the two per cent.”
He said when people take insurance products including accident, fire and illness seriously, it could help address many challenges people face in the country and might not need to call for government support.
Touching on the objective of the Klinic, the GLICO Managing Director said the industry had recorded some cases of policyholders, who had tried making false claims, hence the need to constantly share ideas and strategize with other companies to stem the practice.
“The method of procuring a policy or assessing a claim has changed. Today people are always online, ready to buy a policy and they want it as soon as possible, so there is the need to constantly change our operations to meet their needs, while reducing risk.
“Claims and underwriting works hand-in-hand. This is because a claim is made on what has been written. If it is not done properly, a wrong writing can lead to a wrong claim and this will deplete a company’s fund, thereby denying others who have genuine claims to make,” he noted.
Mr Nda Ahale Polley, an official of GIA noted that, as part of the GIA’s plans to boost the confidence of the general public in the insurance industry, it had introduced the Ghana Insurance Industry Complaint Management and Advice Bureau (CMAB).
The set-up, he stated, was to handle complaints from policyholders and the public in line with GIA’s three-tier complaints management and self-regulatory regimes.
Source: GNA