The Role of Digitisation to Financial Growth

The crucial role of digitisation and for that matter technology in advancing financial inclusion in most developing countries including Ghana cannot be overstated.

Notwithstanding the estimated 1.7 billion people across the globe who lack access to safe, reliable and convenient financial services, in most emerging markets including Ghana, there has rather been an impressive increase in financial inclusion rates, which can be attributed to technology revolution, particularly the use of mobile money (GSMA, 2018).

How is The Insurance Sector Fitting In?

While this technology revolution continues to sweep across industries with abundant opportunities, the insurance landscape in Ghana is yet to fully embrace and leverage these prospects to drive product innovation, distribution optimisation, and effectively reaching out to the multitude of new and existing customers who have been underserved by the traditional financial system in order to improve customer experience, while broadening the scope of premium collection and benefits/claims payment and nipping all irregularities in the bud!

Suffice it to say, digitising the insurance landscape will not only advance financial inclusion but most importantly, it would serve as catalyst for driving insurance penetration in Ghana, since the ever-growing middle class is also notably tech-savvy.

Thus, insurers now no longer have a choice but to embrace the technology revolution or be engulfed by it.

The NIC’s Open Eyes

As the industry regulator, the National Insurance Commission (NIC), is committed to setting the agenda and promoting discourse amongst the industry players and stakeholders on how to harness the opportunities that abound in this digital revolution in order to enhance their business growth and competitiveness.

In this regard, the 2019 edition of the Annual NIC Chairman’s Cocktail is themed: “Digitising Ghana’s Economy – The Role of the Insurance Sector.”

NIC Board Chairman, Mr Emmanuel Ray Ankrah

The annual event is organised under the auspices of the NIC in the month of December, to create a platform for engaging policymakers, industry watchers, related industry players, co-regulators and other stakeholders, on activities and projects of the NIC both in the current year and the ensuing year.

The choice of this year’s theme is not only apt but timely as the NIC, since 2017, has set out on a digital agenda, starting with the implementation of the much talked about Motor Insurance Database (MID) underway, introduction of online Claims Management System, and the upgrade of the regulatory software to provide real-time and cutting-edge analyses of the health and viability of the regulated entities, all within the context of the overall Ghana government’s digital agenda, which seeks to establish Ghana as the leader in ICT innovation in sub-Saharan Africa by 2023.

Indeed, these initiatives of the NIC will not operate in isolation, as there will be linkages with the regulated entities and key stakeholders such as the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Ghana Police Service, as well as, the general public, through e-portals and USSD (short) codes.

What to Expect This Year

This year’s cocktail which will be held on Wednesday, December 11, 2019, at 7pm at the Movenpik Ambassador Hotel, Accra will be graced by the Vice-President, Alhaji Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, who will be the Special Guest of Honour.

Commissioner of Insurance, Justice Yaw Ofori 

It is trite that the Vice-President has been at the forefront of the digitisation agenda of the government since assuming office in January 2017, with visible successes across several sectors of the Ghanaian economy.

Some of the notable digital interventions include the Ghana Card, E-Business Registration, E-Justice System, Digital Property Address System, Mobile Money Interoperability System, Paperless Port System, E-Smart Driver’s Licence and the electronic renewal of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), among others.

The event is also expected to highlight key projects of the NIC going into 2020 which include among others the new Insurance Bill, which contains the expansion of the basket of Compulsory Insurance risks and other novelties incorporated into it.

The event is strictly by invitation.