Hollard Life Assurance: Insurance in Ghana is a Very Competitive Industry, says Nashiru Iddrisu

Nashiru Iddrisu, Managing Director of Hollard Life Assurance, shares his assessment of the insurance industry in Ghana.

“Insurance is a very competitive industry. There are close to 55 underwriters, with about 20 in life and over 30 in general; all of these together with a brokerage market of almost 80 and still counting. We have three or four reinsurance companies and reinsurance brokers as well. It is a well regulated industry. The National Insurance Commission regulates all these players in the market. The reason why it is so competitive is the fact that first, the potential is huge, but the cake is small. There is a lot of concentration and we need to be able to deconcentrate the competition. We can only do that when we make the cake bigger which we can do through educating the public. Between life and general, we insure only 2% of the insurable public. With the opportunities that the industry offers, we should be able to do more. We also need to introduce more flexible, affordable, innovative products to the market. It appears that most of the products in the markets are quite rigid and a bit traditional. Thanks to COVID, there is a new paradigm. You have to go digital. We pride ourselves as being one of the pioneers of the digital space because we were the first to introduce an AI tool where you can buy insurance on WhatsApp. We launched that last year and we have a number of companies following suit. So, we need to do more innovation to open up the market. We need to do more education to open up the market. We need to have more affordability. Again, we have taken the lead in that space. We are in partnership with a FinTech based in Zimbabwe called Cassava and together with mobile operator Vodafone in Ghana, we have come out with a digital product to serve the underserved, the mass market, called MeBanbɔ. This was recently launched and is already making waves. We are also geared towards increasing penetration levels, especially to the underserved. If you take the life insurance industry, for instance, traditional life insurance products would require first and foremost for you to come on board in insurance. But first, you need to have a bank account. But a lot of people do not have bank accounts and that means that you are cutting them off and they cannot do insurance. If you do not have regular income, you cannot buy insurance, traditionally either. But now, with these digital products and micro insurance products, with as little as one Ghana cedi you can buy insurance. You do not need to have a bank account. All you need to have is a mobile account and a mobile number. You can insure your life, you can insure your family, you can insure your dependents. So, you are able to protect from the unforeseen contingencies that may hit you or hit any of your family”, says Nashiru Iddrisu.

ABOUT HOLLARD: Hollard Ghana combines deep local knowledge of the market with the world-class expertise of an international insurance brand. With headquarters in South Africa but feet firmly planted on Ghanian soil, Hollard is able to deliver innovative insurance solutions. Starting out in Ghana as Madison Insurance in 1993, the company was recapitalised and renamed Metropolitan Insurance Company Limited (MET) in 1997. In 2006, the company took the decision to move its focus away from life insurance to other personal and commercial insurance products. In 2015, the Hollard Group acquired a majority shareholding in the company. Hollard Ghana is a member of the Ghana Insurers Association (GIA), West Africa Insurance Companies Association (WAICA), and the African Insurance Organization (AIO).

For more information, please visit: www.hollard.com.gh.

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