He said the company’s retained earnings as of 2018 alone should be enough to help it scale the recapitalisation hurdle.

Speaking in an interview with the Daily Graphic after the inauguration of its refurbished head office in Accra, Mr Aklasi said, “even where we are now in terms of equity position, by the time the regulator will come out with that figure, our retained earnings alone should be able to get us to meet the new requirement.”

Should it fail to recapitalise with its retained earnings, he said, the bank would do a rights issue.

“We are ready and prepared to meet the new capital requirement,” he said.

Refurbished head office

The CEO said the emphasis on the inauguration of its refurbished head office was basically to create a wonderful ambience and a good place for business.

“We are in the business of insurance and people come to buy and you have to show them that you are capable of taking their money and managing it right to be able to pay claims promptly.”
 
“It’s not just about the edifice, but we have also bought a new software and trained our staff to be much more receptive to the needs of our clients.

Each time somebody comes here, we want to offer the best service,” he added.

Payment of claims

He said the baseline in insurance was not the sticker or any document but the ability to pay claims promptly.

“We are proud to say that we have been able to pay all our genuine claims to customers promptly and this has given them a lot of confidence,” he stated.

“As a company, we don’t compete on prices but compete on the adequacy of the premiums that are paid to us so that we will be liquid enough to pay claims.

Some people complain that they have done insurance for a number of years and haven’t received any claim yet but at Donewell, we pay averagely GH¢200,000 claims every week,” he added.

In 2017, he said the company paid claims in excess of GH¢25 million.

He said it, however, managed to reduce it significantly to less than half of that amount.

Business with a difference

The Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church Ghana, Most Rev. Dr Paul K Boafo, who inaugurated the building, urged the management and staff of the company to ensure that the business was different from others.

“It should be an insurance company with a difference and people who come in to do business must see the difference,” he stated.

“We should give customers a reason to come and do business with us and we should work hard to ensure that the business grows from strength to strength,” he added.