The National Insurance Commission (NIC) has commended Allianz Insurance for partnering UBA Ghana on bancassurance to help improve the distribution of insurance products in the country.

Speaking at the media launch in Accra, the Deputy Commissioner of the Commission, Michael Andoh said Allianz Insurance and UBA are globally respected brands in their respective industries and the Commission is confident that both brands will deploy expertise and experience to the benefit of the Ghanaian market.    

While urging both brands to ensure compliance with the Commission’s bancassurance guidelines, he stated that the Commission has been working hard to find sustainable ways to grow the industry.

“Growing the industry requires attention to be paid to a number things. We require need-based product designed to help the average Ghanaian mitigate the risks that they face in their occupations and day-to-day lives. We also need to improve the value of insurance to the insuring public,” he remarked.

He explained that there is a need for players to delight their customers from the point sale to the point of claim, adding that: “We must be seen to be concerned about their grievances and frustrations and refrain from using flimsy excuses to repudiate their claims.”

While recognizing that blockchain technology, digitisation and artificial intelligence are fast disrupting the insurance status quo, he, however, called on insurance companies to develop innovative, suitable and cost-effective distribution channels that enable their products to be easily and conveniently delivered to the consumer.

“Though brokers and agents have been and still remain the major channels of insurance distribution, the trend is rapidly changing. Bancassurance and the mobile phone are the current emerging forces.

“For example, bancassurance partnerships generated about ¢271 million worth of premiums in 2020 up from under 150 million in 2016. Again the percentage of life insurance premiums generated through bancassurance rose from just 7% in 2016 to 13% in 2019.”