Old Mutual Ghana, a subsidiary of pan-African investment, savings, insurance, and banking group, Old Mutual, has said it plans within the next five years to expand its footprint across the industry and Ghana.
According to Helen Amerley Amarquaye, Board Chair of Old Mutual Ghana, this forms part of the organization’s effort to improve financial inclusion as well as contribute to the growth and development of the insurance industry.
Speaking after the company paid a courtesy call on the leadership of the National Insurance Commission (NIC), the industry’s regulator, Ms. Amarquaye said: “Our focus is to get scaled and expand across the country. We are a company focused on financial inclusion and we have a whole lot of expertise. We have also been in the Ghanian market for 10 years and for us it is making sure that we use our expertise to create more scale and bring more people on board,” she said.
She also stated that the organization is constantly keeping up with current trends in order to be competitive in emerging markets.
“The insurance sector is constantly evolving so we have had bancassurance and also the influx of insure-tech which means the use of technology to make insurance more accessible to a wider audience and that is what we are we want to make sure that we are part of it,” she added.
Commissioner for the National Insurance Commission, Dr. Justice Ofori praised Old Mutual Ghana for its consistency in providing the most innovative insurance products to its customers, while also contributing to the development of the insurance market.
Dr. Ofori also commended Old Mutual for being a compliant business and meeting the new minimum capital requirement for insurance businesses. He stated that plans are in the works to train industry participants on how to properly comply with the new Insurance Act of 2021. The New Act, which replaces the Insurance Act, 2006 (724), serves as the legal instrument for the regulation and supervision of the insurance market.
He stated that the new Act is rich in content, thus the need to educate industry players on its implementation and ultimately protect policy and ensure that they get the right products and derive value for money.
“We also want to work on the new Act. We are going to take the industry through the Act and let them know what is new and what should be expected from the Act so that they can be guided accordingly. They have copies but normally people won’t get time to read so we are going to have some training for them so that they can appreciate it and also abide by what it says,” he said.
Albert Oko Dagadu, Head of Technical at Old Mutual Ghana, reiterated that Old Mutual’s goal is aligned with the commission’s goal of providing clients with the right product at the right price.
“It was interesting to hear the commissioner mention that top of their priority is protecting policy holders and ensuring that they get the right products and derive value for money. And at Old Mutual, one key metric is ensuring that our policy holders get value for money and since I have been with Old Mutual, the value for money is very apparent,” he said.
He stated that Old Mutual’s goal is to introduce new products, and as a strategic drive, pushing annuity sales.
“The objective is to ensure that annuitants and retirees especially have a guaranteed income for life and do not have to worry about their future income when they retire and that’s one main objectives of Old Mutual life to ensure our policy holders get the value they require on our products,” Mr. Dagadu explained.
