SIC Insurance Company Limited has set in motion its Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) programme to meet regulatory requirements from the National Insurance Commission (NIC).

Ghana’s insurance regulator, the NIC has been immersed in an ongoing updating of polices, processes and directives aimed at  fostering the changes needed to adapt both to the new economic environments and to the growing levels of safety, transparency and effectiveness being demanded by global partners, financial markets and sophisticated stakeholders.

In line with this, SIC Insurance about a year ago began a series of engagement to implement its ERM programme through a structured and a disciplined approach to align strategy, processes, and systems to evaluate and manage the uncertainties the Company faces in its bid to create value.

The company has reviewed and put in place a comprehensive and integrated set of components that support the achievement of its corporate objectives.

These are also geared towards providing the strategic, operational and foundational layers to govern, embed, implement, monitor and continually improve risk management in the Company.

According to the Managing Director, Mr. Kwei Mensah Ashidam, the company’s ERM framework outlines the approach to decisions regarding risk management, the roles of all relevant parties, as well as the governance structure, policies and processes to enable risk management to be embedded as a component in all critical decisions. Adding that this sets out the various factors to consider the broad steps to manage, monitor and communicate risks for ERM to be successful.

The Head of Risk Management, Mr. Frank Nimako Boateng, intimated that the Company’s core business is the acceptance, pooling and management of risk for the benefit of both policy holders and stakeholders. Effective risk management is thus vital in the insurance business where risk is a key driver of value.

He said, SIC Insurance’s risk management philosophy is not based on seeking to eliminate all risks, but to identify, understand and manage effectively the risks arising from business operations. The company has characterized such risks as: protecting policy holders’ interests by ensuring the ability to meet future obligations; maintaining adequate financial strength to compete and continue to conduct business in the most extreme market conditions; facilitating financial flexibility for liquidity and capital management purposes; seeking earnings consistency in order to maximize long term shareholder value and enhancing value through effective understanding, quantification and mitigation of risk.

Mr. Nimako Boateng disclosed the company has a Board Risk Management Committee (BRMC) at the apex of its risk governance structure to ensure that a robust, comprehensive and effective system for risk management is in place. “The BRMC has also established a Risk Advisory Committee at the Management level to superintendent over the entire programme to mitigate identified risks, and ensure that relevant risk policies and programmes are implemented appropriately and consistently.

Risk Ambassadors in all departments and branches followed by rest of staff across the nation are next in line for the implementation of the risk management programme” he said.

To complement the company’s ERM programme and also comply with regulatory guidelines from the NIC, SIC Insurance has also implemented its Risk Based Internal Audit (RBIA) programme. While the responsibility for identifying and managing risks belongs to Management, one of the key roles of RBIA is to ensure that all the risks identified have been properly managed.