The National Insurance Commission (NIC) has revealed that only 6% of all goods imported are insured by insurance companies in the country.

Representing the Commissioner of Insurance, Dr. Justice Yaw Ofori at a two-day training workshop organised by the Insurance Brokers Association of Ghana (IBAG), Head of Reinsurance and Anti-Money Laundering at the NIC, Esther Armah said even though the situation is worrying, the training came at a better time because all that was about to change.

“With the support of the Marine Protocol, Marine and Aviation Insurance Database (MAID), and more importantly your expertise, the future looks promising.” She said.

She however lauded IBAG for the initiative as part of the Brokers’ Awareness Month activities.

President of the Ghana Insurers Association (GIA), Seth Aklasi, on his part, highlighted the importance of understanding the Marine Cargo Insurance, indicating that the country records $45 billion worth of imports and exports annually.

“If we do not know the product, we might not be able to sell it. So, I believe that after these two days, we will go back to our offices well-equipped to engage clients to get the best deal for them” Mr. Aklasi added.

Speaking to Joy Business, President of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Ghana (CIIG), Tawiah Ben-Ahmed said his outfit is collaborating with all the industry bodies to award professionals who undertake trainings with what he called ‘continuous professional development points.

He said “we appreciate that the CIIG alone cannot completely address the continuous professional needs of our members.”

He however pledged the CIIG’s full support to IBAG’s training programme.

President of IBAG, Shaibu Ali is upbeat about a lot of marine cargo businesses following the new law that seeks to imprison importers that fail to insure their goods.

“Once this is being done, we expect more activities on the marine front. So we need to position our employees, our staff to be able to understand marine insurance so that they can educate the public and they can underwrite the business as it comes”, he said.

He is however confident that with the right structures in place, marine cargo insurance could overtake motor insurance in terms of gross written premiums.

The two-day training which commenced on October 13 is engaging over 150 insurance professionals.