The Partner, Assurance at Deloitte Ghana, Dr. Kwabena Situ, has urged all insurance firms to create a comprehensive fraud strategy to withstand any attack, particularly cybersecurity.

According to him, they must implement effective policies that withstand any attack, urging them to take advantage of the solutions provided by Deloitte.

The environment [business] is getting complex daily, so there is a need to have strategies in place. There is also the need to have a gap assessment. These are important policies that insurance firms must embrace, Dr. Situ disclosed at a webinar organised by Deloitte on the topic: “Insurance Fraud Awareness and Mitigation”.

“Fraud is something that makes companies lose lots of money. Resources that can be channeled into other areas of the businesses to grow the firms are being lost to fraud. It is a very topical issue that businesses, especially insurance firms, must start dealing with. You know Deloitte is proactive on issues pertaining to regulatory and standards and all that. This is a canker that we need to deal with…we need to deal with it squarely”.

“In Ghana, 5.0% of revenue is lost to occupational hazards. So, this is something that needs to be dealt with because resources are going into places that do not to go. When it comes to fraud, we are dealing with either internal or external fraud. With the internal fraud, you can find a way to deal with. The most dangerous one is the one that is not close by (the external fraud) –  the cybersecurity”, he added.

For his part, Babajide Okunlola, an Associate Director, Forensic, Deloitte Nigeria, said fraudsters of today are using technology, and as such, insurance companies must start thinking about technology to curtail the fraud.

“Everybody is worried about AI, [Artificial Intelligence, but I can tell you that AI has its good side to deal with technology. Secondly, insurance companies must be working together with the regulators to ensure that verification and other important transactions are  easily done.

Other panel members were Clayton Thomopoulos, Partner, Forensic, Deloitte Africa; Niia Asafoatse Abbey, Associate Director, Forensic, Deloitte Ghana; andSheriff Issah, Manager, Cyber Risk, Deloitte Ghana.