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Deploy technology to enhance coverage – Insurance companies urged

Insurance industries in developing countries must deploy technology to enhance coverage and improve their services, Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Former Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and Sahel, has said.

He stressed that insurance companies should examine “how cutting-edge technological innovations such as big data and scientific studies” could help them expand their reach and enhance their service.

Dr Chamber gave the advice during the 22nd Association of Insurers and Reinsurance of Developing Countries (AIRDC) conference underway in Accra to fashion out strategies to boost the share of developing economies of the global insurance market.

The objective of the four-day international conference is to come out with measures to increase the share of developing economies in the global insurance market.

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It is being hosted by the National Insurance Commission (NIC) and Organised by the Association of Insurers and Reinsurance of Developing Countries (AIRDC).

On the theme “Building Resilience in the Heat of a Global Economic Tussle,” the programme is being held under the auspices of the Association of Insurance Supervisory Authorities for Developing Countries.

The participants who are Chief Executive Officers, experts, practitioners from Insurance and Reinsurance companies are from Ghana, Egypt, Nigeria, Angola, Togo, Benin, Kenya, Guinea, Liberia, Nepal, Philippines, and Senegal.

Dr Chambas who was the special guest of honour, further said insurance companies in developing countries should leverage the lessons learned from developed economies to fuel cross-border expansion, especially in emerging markets.

He said leadership and governance was critical for the success of the insurance industry.

“These two enable you to act in the best interest of the business or industry at all times,” he said.

Dr Chambas stressed that the global insurance industry should be restructured to give greater market share to companies in the developing economies.

According to him, companies in developing countries had small share of the global insurance market, compared with their counterparts in the developed economies.

Dr Chambas called for collaboration among the players in the insurance industry to help address the challenges facing the sector across the world.

“We have seen that when a pandemic strikes country A, country Z is not immune!  Therefore, in an essentially, multi-polar and interdependent world, we must intensify searching for collective solutions to global challenges including in the insurance industry,” he said.

The Commissioner of Insurance, Dr Justice Yaw Ofori, said despite the opportunities, the insurance market in developing countries was still faced with some challenges.

Among the challenges, he mentioned were lack of trust in insurance, unhealthy competition, bad corporate governance and “fluctuating boardroom ethics.”

He said the objective of the 22nd educational conference was to develop strategies to increase the market share of the developing economies in the global insurance market.

BY KINGSLEY ASARE

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