The Insurance Awareness Coordinators Group (IACG) an organization formed by stakeholders in the insurance sector to help address challenges has told Citi Business News there are new ways to report insurance companies that fail to pay claims promptly.
The level of insurance penetration in Ghana is very low compared to other subsectors in the financial sector.
Part of the challenges in the insurance sector have been blamed on mistrust by customers in the industry.
But speaking to Citi Business News at a forum organized by the Ghana Insurers Association, the chairman of the IACG, Wilson Tei announced that dissatisfied customers can petition a new complaint bureau for quick redress.
“We realize that there are a lot of people who don’t what to do when there is a dispute in claims payment and that is why we set up the bureau to address such issue to build confidence,” he said.
Mr. Tei stated that the insurance industry in Ghana had in recent times stepped up its efforts in intensifying sensitization and educational measures to eraze misconception about the industry.
According to him, the move is to improve generic understanding of insurance; and ultimately deepen insurance penetration in Ghana which is under 2%.
He maintained that the collective effort to speak with one voice when it comes to insurance education had yielded the body called the Insurance Awareness Coordinators Group (IACG).
Providing some details on the duties of the group, Mr. Tei said IACG is tasked with the onerous responsibility of educating Ghanaians about the importance of risk-management generally, and insurance uptake in particular.
IACG is made up of representatives from all the important wings of the insurance industry in Ghana: namely, the National Insurance Commission (NIC), Ghana Insurers Association (GIA), Ghana Insurance Brokers Association (GIBA), Charted Insurance Institute of Ghana (CIIG), the Ghana Insurance College (GIC), and the National Association of Ghana Insurance Agents (NAGIA)’.
To do this task of educating Ghanaians, the IACG had segmented the population of Ghana into different cohorts, with specific educational interventions suitable for each cohort.
On his part, the Deputy Commissioner, National Insurance Commission (NIC), Michael Kofi Andoh said the commission is aiming at increasing insurance penetration from the current 2 percent to 5 percent.
