Ghana’s National Insurance Commission (NIC) plans to unveil regulations to guide the operations of technology-based insurance start-ups (insurtechs) in the country.
At a Demo Day event for the Ghana Innolab Insurtech Accelerator Programme in Accra, the Deputy Commissioner of Insurance, Michael Kofi Andoh, said although the new Insurance Act 2021 (Act 1061), has extensive provisions for the operation of insurtechs in the country, the regulations that would give impetus for issuing innovative licenses were yet to be finalized.
He said the NIC was committed to issuing regulations with appropriate safeguards that would give comfort to the market. “While insurtechs have the potential to transform the delivery of insurance services, it is always a balancing act for regulators around the world, who need to consider how best to reap its benefits, while providing safeguards for fair customer treatment, governance and security,”.
Also, Mr. Andoh noted that the introduction of insurtechs will offer stakeholders the opportunity to leverage on innovative solutions to enhance the insurance sector and businesses.
He therefore urged insurance companies to partner with insurtechs in order to enhance transformation in the delivery of insurance services.
Launched by the NIC and GIZ in January this year, the Innolab Insurtech Accelerator Programme is designed to help grow the Ghana’s insurtech start-ups, while unlocking innovations that could help transform the insurance industry. The programme selected 10 innovators, who were taken through a 10-week training to help them scale up.
In support of the programme, the GIZ, through its Financial Systems Development component, supported the three winning firms with €20.000 each to further develop their innovative solutions into sustainable insurance products and services to promote financial inclusion and drive Ghana’s insurance industry forward.
Mr Andoh said the NIC was convinced that all the ten selected firms would be agents of the change needed for the transformation of the industry.
Also speaking at the demo day, the Head of Programme for the Programme for Sustainable Economic Development (PSED) at GIZ, Detlev Axel Jahn, said insurtechs played an integral role in tackling the country’s insurance challenges by developing technology-based solutions with social impact.
“I am confident that these kinds of accelerator programmes, if coordinated often, will give us opportunities to discover and adapt present day advancements, to change and overcome the current and future challenges of the insurance industry,” he pointed out.
Head of Insurance and Pensions at the Ministry of Finance, Patience Arko Boham, for her part, said government acknowledges the importance of digitisation and innovation in the financial ecosystem and as such has formulated the National Financial Inclusion and Development Strategy (NFIDS) and complemented it with the Digital Financial Services (DFS) policy and a digital payment roadmap to serve as a blueprint for attaining a digitized society to ensure the financial ecosystem was robust and could respond to the changing needs of the global economy.
Source : Graphic Online