Old Mutual, a leading international long term savings, banking and investment group, officially launched its brand in Ghana at the Movenpick Hotel in Accra. This follows the Group’s acquisition, in 2013, of Provident Life Assurance.

Old Mutual Life Assurance Company(Ghana) Limited, as the company has now been renamed, will now have Provident Life’s license to conduct life insurance business in the country as well as serve its portfolio of customers.

The ceremony, attended by captains of the financial services industry, makes Ghana the latest sphere of operations for the Old Mutual Group that has businesses in Africa, North and South America, Asia as well as Europe.

Mona Quartey, Deputy Finance Minister, who was the guest of honour, advised the insurance industry to play an effective role in the country’s socio-economic development by maintaining the highest professional standards and avoid negative practices such as unduly under-cutting of premiums and providing credit at the expense of their ability to provide genuine claims.

She noted that the insurance sector should also develop the right caliber of staff, especially through training, adding it is to complement this effort that government has supported the National Insurance Commission to set up an actuarial unit to ensure that life insurance companies are adequately capitalized, solvent and employ sound actuarial practices in their operations.

Ms. Quartey indicated that in the 2012 National Insurance Commission’s report, Ghana’s insurance penetration was 1.16%, well below the African average of 3.5%. She therefore encouraged industry players, particularly Old Mutual, to take advantage of the government’s local content initiatives and increase the penetration rate.

Addressing the guests, Mr Luke Ngwerume, former Group CEO of Old Mutual Zimbabwe, representing Old Mutual Africa, promised that the company would leverage the global experience and financial solidity of its parent Group, and combine this with the local insight and well-earned reputation of Provident Life to provide new standards of life insurance products and services.

“The entry of Old Mutual into Ghana is in line with our priorities for 2014 and beyond. These priorities are to build an African financial service champion and become the recognized financial service leader in responsible business in all of these markets,” he noted.

Mrs Nicolette Hendricks, Acting CEO, Old Mutual Ghana, assured the gathering that “Drawing on 169 years of experience, global expertise and an unwavering focus on the financial needs of our customers, Old Mutual has come to Ghana to offer relevant and meaningful life insurance and savings products. In doing so, we will change the way individuals and institutions perceive life insurance and the way they patronize it”

Ms Lydia Bawa, National Insurance Commissioner, traced the low insurance penetration in the industry to the large informal sector that still remains largely uninsured.

To improve the situation, the National Insurance Commission (NIC) and German Development Corporation (GIZ) have collaborated to develop and promote micro-insurance with the objective of bringing suitable insurance products to the doorsteps of low income households as well as medium scale enterprises.

“I would therefore be delighted to see Old Mutual bring on board its micro-insurance experiences from South Africa and other jurisdictions to help improve access to insurance in Ghana” she remarked.

Ms Bawa mentioned that the emergence of the mobile phone as a distribution channel, continues to introduce a vast majority of the population to insurance, adding, the NIC will collaborate with the National Communications Authority to explore ways of managing the down side of the associated risks and thereby help improve access to insurance for the ordinary Ghanaian.

She announced that the NIC will soon issue a new Risk Based capital adequacy framework to improve the capitalization and governance of the companies.

Now headquartered in London, U.K., Old Mutual currently serves over 16 million customers around the world, and has about 57,000 employees with 293.8billion pounds under management as at the end of 2013.