Insurance practitioners from 54 insurance companies across the country, are attending a seminar, in Accra, to learn about new trends and best practices, to boost the insurance industry.
The event, dubbed “2023 Annual Insurance Seminar” and organised by the Ghana Insurers Association (GIA), is being attended by more than 162 participants, as part of activities to climax this year’s Insurance Awareness Month celebration.
The two-day programme, sponsored by Africa Reinsurance Consultants and MultiThread, sought to educate the public and highlight the importance of insurance.
The President of GIA, Seth Kobla Aklasi, urged insurance companies to intensify education on insurance, for the public to appreciate their important contributions to the economy.
“Deepening public education on insurance will encourage more people and companies to sign on to insurance,” he noted.
That, Mr Aklasi said, would help insurance companies to rake in more revenue through premiums.
He observed that income derived from investment for insurance companies, was dwindling due to the difficult macroeconomic conditions and the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).
According to Mr Aklasi, “investment income of the insurance industry has dwindled by more than 30 per cent and insurance companies need to work hard to diversify their income sources to shore up their revenues.
“Because we are in difficult times, we cannot rely on investment alone, we need to begin to bring out the business aspect of insurance to stay profitable.”
In view of this, Mr Aklasi said the insurance companies must work hard to attract more customers to earn more premium, sustain operations, remain profitable and ensure value for shareholders.
He said changes in the insurance industry require operators to be on top of their business and improve their underwriting skills.
According to Mr Aklasi, operators in the insurance industry needed the right skills so that they can cope with the growing cost of operating insurance business.
“Times are a bit different these days. We need to begin to do things differently as an industry. There is the need to train the people in the industry to be able to rise up to the occasion,” he said.
Mr Aklasi said apart from motor insurance, which formed a significant portion of business for insurance companies, the participants would be taken through marine insurance and reinsurance.
He said the seminar would focus on Information Communication Technology (ICT) because the world was moving towards digitalisation, and insurance companies needed to reach out to customers through the technology.
Mr Aklasi said the DDEP has resulted in a reduction of investments made by insurance companies.
He, however, said insurance companies were in a strong financial position, to be able to meet all their financial obligations.
BY KINGSLEY ASARE
