NIC Board charged to increase insurance penetration

The reconstituted board of the National Insurance Commission (NIC), has been inaugurated with a call on them to work hard to deepen insurance penetration in the informal sector insurance market.

The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, who made the call in Accra on Tuesday, said there was a huge untapped market in the informal sector and the board must initiate strategies for the industry to harness the market and help deepen insurance penetration in the country.

The seven-member board is chaired by Madam Abenaa Kessewaa Brown with Dr Justice Ofori, Commissioner of Insurance, Professor Bill Buernor Puplampu, Sampson Akligoh, Mrs Geta Striggner-Quartey, Franklin Asafo Adjei and Mr Emmanuel Amofa as members. Mrs Naa Shormeh Gyang is secretary to the NIC Board.

Mr Ofori-Atta charged members of the board to diligently steer the affairs of the insurance industry and make it more efficient.

The Minister commended the previous board for the remarkable achievements in the insurance space and urged the new board to do more to deepen insurance penetration in the country.

A recent assessment of the industry by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) revealed that the country’s insurance industry witnessed an increase in its total capital base to GH¢2.91 billion at the end of December 2020, from an earlier GH¢2.53 billion recorded in December 2019.

The BoG’s Financial Stability Review for 2020 said the insurance industry in 2020 grew at 15 per cent over the previous year.

It attributed the growth of the insurance industry to good corporate governance practices and stringent measures taken by insurance entities to meet the new minimum capital requirement for the strong results.

Source: Ghanaian Times