More than 23 million Ghanaians are living without any form of insurance policy, a study commissioned by the National Insurance Commission has revealed.
The study, conducted by Fin Mark Trust, an Irish market research outfit, said only five per cent of Ghana’s 24 million population had signed onto any form of insurance product.
The figure is made up mainly of workers in the informal sector, including farmers, petty traders, artisans etc.
The study also revealed that the insurance penetration into the Ghanaian market was less than two per cent.
The findings imply that a majority of Ghanaians run the risk of losing their entire belongings in the event of death or any form of disability.
A similar study conducted in Nigeria also revealed a 0.08 market penetration for insurance.
The Head of Marketing, Research and External Relations at the National Insurance Commission (NIC), Isaac Yaw Buabeng, announced this at the maiden edition of the Brokers summit organised by Starlife Assurance Limited in Accra.
He said the situation posed a great threat to many Ghanaians especially workers, since they would be at the losing end in times of their death or disability.
He said even though there was a huge market yet to be exploited by insurance companies, the players in the industry had failed to reach a majority of the people because of their lack of understanding of some of the products.
According to him, the NIC has been advocating since 2009, the development of micro-insurance products by the insurance companies to bring insurance to the doorstep of the ordinary Ghanaian.
He said the Insurance Law 2006 (Act 724) did not capture comprehensively how members of the informal sector could be captured in the insurance business.
As a result, the NIC has presented a proposal for an amendment of the law to incorporate the issue of encouraging micro-insurance to rope in more Ghanaians into the insurance net in a new bill yet to be passed by Parliament.
He rallied insurance companies to support the initiative by creating products in that direction.
The summit, held on the theme; “Life insurance penetration, the role of the broker and the underwriter”, brought together players in the life insurance industry to deliberate on means to expand the sector.
The Managing Director of Starlife Assurance Company Limited, George Kojo Addison, said the reason for the poor level of insurance coverage in Ghana was a result of the inadequate use of Information Communications and Technology (ICT) in the activities of the major players.
Referring to other sub-Saharan African countries like South Africa which has an insurance coverage of 14.8 per cent, he said players in the industry in that country had taken advantage of technology to bring their products to the doorstep of their target clients.
He called on the government to facilitate the legal regime that would ensure that such an innovation was taken advantage of.
He said Starlife Assurance was advocating close collaboration between insurance brokers and life assurance companies to ensure quality delivery, and expressed the hope that the initiative would work out between the umbrella bodies — Ghana Insurers Association (GIA) and the Ghana Insurance Brokers Association (GIA), as well as Life Assurance Offices Association.
Source: Daily Graphic/Ghana
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