The Commissioner of Insurance, Ms Lydia Bawa, has stated that the enactment of the Insurance Law, Act 724 (2006), has brought a change in the structure, competition, efficiency and the growth of the industry.
She said apart from its compliance with the core principles of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors, it had strengthened the National Insurance Commission (NIC) to provide a robust insurance regulatory environment.
Ms Bawa said this at a forum which was organised on July 29 to educate stakeholders in the insurance industry on the management of life insurance claims.
The forum was organised by the Ghana Reinsurance Company Limited and Munich Reinsurance Company Limited of South Africa.
She said the insurance industry continued to experience steady growth at an annual average rate of about 32 per cent in premium income over the past five years.
“As of December 2013, there were 42 licensed insurance, inclusive of 17 life companies operating in the country with a combined estimated penetration rate of 1.5 per cent”, she said.
She also pointed out that the total market premium recorded by the Ghana Insurance Market for the year 2013 amounted to GH¢ 1.051 billion.
“The premium output from life insurance was GH¢ 468.825 million while that from non-life insurance was GH¢ 582.458 million.
In percentage terms, it represented 44.60 per cent and 55.40 per cent respectively”, she added.
Training of staff
The Managing Director for Ghana Reinsurance Company (Ghana Re), Mr Gustav Siale, also pointed out that Ghana Re believed in the training and retraining of its staff and that of its ceding companies.
He said it was only through training that the capacity of insurance practitioners would be built to face the many challenges flowing from the demands of increasingly sophisticated clientele.
“By the end of the first half of this year, Ghana Re has already organised four training seminars mainly on general insurance as well as international seminar’s in Elmina, Sudan, Monrovia, and Liberia”, he stated.
Mr Siale said the need for capacity building in life insurance could not be over-emphasised, considering the potential for growth and the apparent depth of skill in their area of business.
“It is in the light of this that, in collaboration with Munich Reinsurance Company, the Ghana Re organises what is becoming an annual seminar for the life insurance companies operating in the market,” he added.