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Insurance industry must offer financial stability – CEO of KRIF Ghana

Kennedy Okosun says the insurance industry must offer packages that will protect individuals and businesses from losses

Ghana News Agency (Accra) – Kennedy Okosun, chief executive officer of KRIF Ghana Ltd, has said a well-developed insurance industry is key in efforts to improve the stability of the financial markets.

“In one breath, suffice it to say that in these COVID-19 challenging times, insurance is best described as compulsory,” he said.

Okosun urged insurance companies to do more in building trust with its stakeholders, stressing that the world economy had seen a downward spiral since the outbreak of the pandemic. The Ghanaian insurance industry had not been spared the negative impact, he said.

He was speaking in Accra at the fourth KRIF Ghana Ltd webinar series on the theme “Effects of Covid-19 on Corporate Ghana – the Insurance Industry”. It was organised by the publishers of Integrity Magazine.

The virtual event brought on board seasoned insurers from across Ghana, who touched on various angles of the insurance sector with a clarion call to Ghanaians to “be interested in insurance”.

“Dragging their feet”?

The KRIF Ghana chief executive said there were fears that the COVID-19 crisis could create liquidity strains even for insurers.

“This could just be the catalyst for the insurance industry to cash in as the world is at the mercy of natural disasters and accidents,” Okosun said.

“It is the view of Integrity Magazine that the insurance industry could wield more money than the banks if the public understood properly and applied the services of insurers, especially during the coronavirus pandemic, thus ensuring that they were covered in any eventuality.

“This Integrity Magazine webinar is creating a platform for a discourse on maintaining the fiduciary relationship between the insured public and their insurers. How do we help insurers build back the trust, so we do not keep hearing people say, ‘They were quick to take my money, but now that they have to pay back, they are dragging their feet?’ ”

Speakers at the event included Michael Kofi Andoh, deputy commissioner of the National Insurance Commission; Ernestina Abeh, managing director of Enterprise Insurance Company Ltd; Edward Forkuo Kyei, chief executive of GLICO Group; and Nancy Ampah, chief executive of Nationwide Medical Insurance.

Other speakers were: Adedayo Arowojolu, managing director of, WAPIC Insurance Ghana; and Shaibu Ali, vice-president of the Insurance Brokers Association of Ghana, who is also the chief executive officer of KEK Reinsurance Brokers (Africa) Ltd.

When the dust settles

For his part, Edward Forkuo Kyei explained that despite the many challenges that the pandemic had generated, insurance companies could still take advantage of opportunity amid the difficulties.

He said COVID-19 had opened the door for use of various technologies to conduct virtual meetings, which are as effective as face-to-face meetings.

“These turbulent times may be the turning point that will drive transformational change across the insurance industry,” he said.

“Those who can respond at a pace to this changing environment, who take a customer-first attitude, and who see this as an opportunity to reset and fundamentally rethink how they do business, will find themselves emerging from strength when the dust settles,” he said.

Kyei, who is chief executive officer of the GLICO Group, urged insurance companies to consider diversifying into establishing subsidiary repair companies to attend to their policyholders’ vehicles.

“By so doing, they would retain control of the repairs of customers’ vehicles and maintain a high level of service delivery come rain or shine,” he said.

Source
Ghana News Agency
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