The Ghana Insurers Association (GIA) and the National Insurance Commission with support from the German Development Agency, GIZ, have organised the week-long workshop with consultants and experts for Ghanaian insurers, to deliberate on the importance of marine insurance to the marine industry.
The well-attended Marine Training and Marine Insurance workshop, which took place in Ada in the Greater Accra Region, was to build the capacity of stakeholders on Marine Insurance and the key role it could play to boost the insurance sector in the country.
The workshop had in attendance about 150 participants, drawn from about 56 Insurance Companies, 37 Broker Companies and 50 other Companies including Chamber of Mines, Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders, GNPC, Petroleum Commission, Ghana Ports and Harbour Authorities, and so on.
Players in the Insurance Industry are calling for a new law that will make it mandatory for import and export goods through marine to be covered by insurance.
The President of the Ghana Insurers Association (GIA), Aretha Duku said, there is a need for a codified legislation with compulsory clauses to govern the Marine Insurance sub sector. According to Aretha Duku, The Industry has about three goals which includes “to present a Marine Insurance Act to Parliament; our research has indicated that in Countries where the Marine Business booms; to mention on of such is Nigeria, there is a Marine Act in place to support this initiative.
She said, they hope to lobby all stakeholders to develop The Law that will help grow the Marine business in Ghana. Another goal, is to increase the penetration of Marine class of business, “we, know the penetration is low for the entire industry but marine class is very low; growth on the marine insurance is almost not existence in spite of significant growth in import and we say this is with conviction since the year 2007 excerpt 2009, to date there has been significant increase”.
The lack of the growth in the line has taken a number of casualties, one of such is the lack of development of talent in the area of insurance but that is understandable as insurance knowledge is enforced and strengthened through experience the lack of the business translated into poor experience and the knock on the effect is the low experts, we want changed that and today marks the beginning of that change, she stressed.
The Commissioner at The National Insurance Commission, (NIC), Justice Yaw Ofori, revealed that, The Commission is working with The Ghana Revenue Authority and other stakeholders to amend the existing law, Insurance Act, 2006 (Act 724) to be very effective and make it compulsory for goods coming in by sea, lake or river to have insurance covering them.
He said the draft bill is ready and in time it will be sent to Parliament for consideration.
The Head of Financial Systems development Unit, PSED(GIZ)), Jochen Ramcke noted that, educating Ghanaians about the importance of risk management in Ghana, they are careful to focus the chunk of their technical support to areas that are critical in boosting knowledge of insurance, and also in generating stronger returns to the fortunes of the industry.
He states, “we see marine insurance as one of the strategic portfolios, capable of driving growth and ensuring better returns to investment. In support of GIA and GIBA, we see this training in marine risk and insurance as opportune to help chart a new path in reviving a key area in the insurance equation in Ghana.
Mr Ramcke took the opportunity to encourage the participants to imbibe as much knowledge as possible, so that together, they can all go out to tell a different story about marine insurance delivery in Ghana.
The workshop, jointly organized by National Insurance Commission and GIZ, through the Programme for Sustainable Economic Development (PSED), as part of German Development Cooperation within Ghana, and The Insurance Industry in particular opened on Monday, 11th 2018 and is expected to end on Tuesday, 12th 2018 in Accra.
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Credit: GB&F Magazine