The Ghana Insurers Association (GIA), in partnership with the Graphic Business, has relaunched the Insurance Awareness Month after a seven-year break.

The 2022 campaign, which is being held this month, is on the theme: “Making Insurance the Ghanaian way of life.”

Activities lined up for the month-long awareness campaign include a public seminar of annuities (periodic payments based on investment), public education on road safety, donations to selected institutions and a special pull-out supplement on the insurance industry which would be published in the Daily Graphic on June 22, this year.

At the launch in Accra yesterday, the President of GIA, Seth Kobla Aklasi, said the theme for this year’s celebration was chosen in line with the current challenge of the industry.

“We could not have chosen a better theme, judging from the challenges we face in our quest for a positive perception of the industry and the services we render,” he stated.

Vital role of insurance

Mr Aklasi said the Ghanaian insurance industry played a vital role in the socio-economic development of the country, noting that the industry oiled the engine for growth.

“It is often said that the private sector is the engine of growth of the economy. I wish to add that the insurance industry provides the oil for that engine to run smoothly and there is no better evidence than the significant risk taken on by insurance and reinsurance companies that allow for the optimum functioning of businesses in this country,” he stated.

Mr Aklasi said it was worth noting that the insurance industry paid claims in excess of GH?330 million as a result of the June 3, 2015 floods and fire disaster.

He stated that the recently published results of the National Insurance Commission for 2020 also indicated that the industry paid about GH?4.2 million in claims or benefits to policyholders on a daily basis.

“If you compute that to an annual figure, we are paying millions of claims,” he stated.

Telling own story

The president of GIA said considering the amount of money the industry paid as claims, it was obvious that the industry had not been able to tell its story well enough for Ghanaians to have confidence in the players.

“For Ghanaians to make insurance their way of life, awareness creation remains the missing link and it is for this reason that the board has prioritised awareness as a pivot for increasing uptake, coverage and ultimately penetration.

“This launch signifies our resolve to break the glass ceiling and make Ghanaians aware of insurance and have confidence and trust,” he said.

Partnership with Graphic Group

The GIA President said the partnership with the Graphic Business was significant because the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) was a brand worth associating with.

“We are all aware the Graphic Group reports nothing but “Truth and Accuracy Every Day” and I am convinced that they will help dispel some of the misconceptions about our industry,” Mr Aklasi said.

Deepening insurance

The Head of Reinsurance and Anti-Money Laundering at the National Insurance Commission (NIC), Esther Armah, who represented the Commissioner of Insurance, also commended the GIA and Graphic Business for the collaboration to deepen insurance awareness.

She said the insurance industry provided an invaluable service that seemed to require some re-packaging to become the way of life for Ghanaians.

The Director, Marketing of GCGL, Franklin Sowa, who represented the Managing Director of GCGL, Ato Afful, said insurance played a critical role in the economy in helping businesses deal with risks.

That, he said, was the essence of insurance contributors to the sustainability of businesses when risk struck.

Mr Sowa said insurance firms required adequate financial resources in order to support businesses and absorb the risks they insured.

“Insurance companies, therefore, need a steady stream of funds in the form of premiums coming from a diverse clientele,” he added.

Mr Sowa explained that there was a huge gap to close in bringing a good percentage of Ghanaians under insurance cover, aside from those covered by the National Health Insurance Scheme.

“In a research, Increasing Insurance Penetration in Ghana: Challenges and Strategies, commissioned by the National Insurance Commission (NIC) in 2019, it is indicated that coverage of insurance among the population of the country is 30 per cent with an insurance penetration of one per cent,” he stated

The GCGL marketing director stressed the need for increased insurance awareness as knowledge about insurance companies, concepts and products had declined from 59.92 per cent to 53.92 per cent in 2021 in spite of the laudable steps by the NIC to increase awareness.

Mr Sowa said it was, therefore, the reason why GCGL was contributing to efforts by the NIC and GIA to turn the tide in favour of the insurance industry.