Insurance companies in the country have been urged to invest more in the informal sector of the economy.

This, according to Commissioner of Insurance, Ms. Lydia Labriba Bawa is to help increase their subscriber base.

She made the call the end-of-year staff get-together of the State Insurance Company (SIC) Life in Accra.

The Insurance Commissioner indicated that, as of September 2016, the insurance penetration rate in the country was less than two per cent, with more than 88.8 per cent of Ghanaians, representing about 23 million people, being uninsured.

That, in her view, was uninspiring, adding that it was the responsibility of insurance companies, particularly the state-owned ones, to correct that anomaly.

She maintained that the time had come for that to change, “and that can only happen if you all make conscious efforts to do that.”

As the industry regulator, Ms Bawa said the National Insurance Commission (NIC) had taken a number of steps to help the industry increase and sustain the penetration rate in the country.

She said the commission had embarked on a vigorous consumer education programme to help improve the insurance penetration rate in the country, “and this is what you can all do to help resolve the situation.”

Ms Bawa also commended the management of SIC Life for the prudent measures it had adopted to increase the company’s profit margin.

For his part, the Chief Executive Officer of SIC Life, Mr. Aaron Issa Anafure, said the company increased its financials by the end of the third quarter of 2016.

“As of the end of the third quarter of 2016, the company had recorded a profit before tax of over GH¢16 million,” he stated.

Due to the hard work and efforts of the staff, Mr. Anafure announced that management had decided to increase the salaries of employees beginning from January 1, 2017.

Some individuals and branches of the company that distinguished themselves were awarded for their contributions to the growth of the company during the year under review.

The Academic Excellence Award was picked up by Mr. Cletus Asoogo, while Mr. Bernard Asare picked the Fraud Prevention and Detection award.

The Best Performing Office (company with the highest number of businesses) award went to the Wa office, with the Best Producing Office going to the Spintex branch.