[ 2014-11-26 ]

Old Mutual brand launches in Ghana
Old Mutual, a leading international long term
savings, banking and investment group, officially
launched its brand in Ghana at the Movenpick Hotel
in Accra. This follows the Group’s acquisition,
in 2013, of Provident Life Assurance.

Old Mutual Life Assurance Company(Ghana) Limited,
as the company has now been renamed, will now have
Provident Life’s license to conduct life
insurance business in the country as well as serve
its portfolio of customers.

The ceremony, attended by captains of the
financial services industry, makes Ghana the
latest sphere of operations for the Old Mutual
Group that has businesses in Africa, North and
South America, Asia as well as Europe.

Mona Quartey, Deputy Finance Minister, who was the
guest of honour, advised the insurance industry to
play an effective role in the country’s
socio-economic development by maintaining the
highest professional standards and avoid negative
practices such as unduly under-cutting of premiums
and providing credit at the expense of their
ability to provide genuine claims.

She noted that the insurance sector should also
develop the right caliber of staff, especially
through training, adding it is to complement this
effort that government has supported the National
Insurance Commission to set up an actuarial unit
to ensure that life insurance companies are
adequately capitalized, solvent and employ sound
actuarial practices in their operations.

Ms. Quartey indicated that in the 2012 National
Insurance Commission’s report, Ghana’s
insurance penetration was 1.16%, well below the
African average of 3.5%. She therefore encouraged
industry players, particularly Old Mutual, to take
advantage of the government’s local content
initiatives and increase the penetration rate.

Addressing the guests, Mr Luke Ngwerume, former
Group CEO of Old Mutual Zimbabwe, representing Old
Mutual Africa, promised that the company would
leverage the global experience and financial
solidity of its parent Group, and combine this
with the local insight and well-earned reputation
of Provident Life to provide new standards of life
insurance products and services.

“The entry of Old Mutual into Ghana is in line
with our priorities for 2014 and beyond. These
priorities are to build an African financial
service champion and become the recognized
financial service leader in responsible business
in all of these markets,” he noted.

Mrs Nicolette Hendricks, Acting CEO, Old Mutual
Ghana, assured the gathering that “Drawing on
169 years of experience, global expertise and an
unwavering focus on the financial needs of our
customers, Old Mutual has come to Ghana to offer
relevant and meaningful life insurance and savings
products. In doing so, we will change the way
individuals and institutions perceive life
insurance and the way they patronize it”

Ms Lydia Bawa, National Insurance Commissioner,
traced the low insurance penetration in the
industry to the large informal sector that still
remains largely uninsured.

To improve the situation, the National Insurance
Commission (NIC) and German Development
Corporation (GIZ) have collaborated to develop and
promote micro-insurance with the objective of
bringing suitable insurance products to the
doorsteps of low income households as well as
medium scale enterprises.

“I would therefore be delighted to see Old
Mutual bring on board its micro-insurance
experiences from South Africa and other
jurisdictions to help improve access to insurance
in Ghana” she remarked.

Ms Bawa mentioned that the emergence of the mobile
phone as a distribution channel, continues to
introduce a vast majority of the population to
insurance, adding, the NIC will collaborate with
the National Communications Authority to explore
ways of managing the down side of the associated
risks and thereby help improve access to insurance
for the ordinary Ghanaian.

She announced that the NIC will soon issue a new
Risk Based capital adequacy framework to improve
the capitalization and governance of the
companies.

Now headquartered in London, U.K., Old Mutual
currently serves over 16 million customers around
the world, and has about 57,000 employees with
293.8billion pounds under management as at the end
of 2013.

Source - Joy News

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