Finance Minister to address 1st National General Insurance Conference

The Ghana Insurers Association (GIA), under the auspices of the General Insurance Council (GIC), will hold the first-ever National General Insurance conference on October 19th, 2017.

The event, set to take place in Accra, will be on the theme: ‘Transforming the General Insurance Industry through Self-Regulation, Financial Capacity and Business Innovation.’

A statement issued in Accra by the organisers said Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister for Finance would deliver the Keynote address.

The event will be attended by delegates in the General Insurance industry, Chief Executives of Insurance and allied industry and officials from the National Insurance Commission amongst others.

The statement said the annual conference was to create a national platform for discussing and addressing key issues that affected general insurance and to create awareness about General Insurance among policy makers and other key institutions and stakeholders in the country.

Ms Aretha Duku, President of the GIA, said “I look forward to fruitful discussions that will direct us as to how to fully utilize the benefits of self-regulation, improve our financial capacity and tap into the benefits associated with social media and technology.”

Mr Kwame Ofori, Chairman of the General Insurance Council, said: “This Conference is a culmination of years of dreams and efforts by the General Insurance Council to tell the story of the impact of this line of insurance business on the lives and properties of individuals and on the country as a whole.”

He reiterated that the conference theme was quite auspicious at this time in view of its three thematic areas that have the potential of making the General Insurance industry better.

“Self-regulation has become one of the most powerful tools for instilling discipline, promoting healthy competition and for avoiding stricter regulations in various industries worldwide,” he added.

He said the Insurance Industry in Ghana could not be an exception and the benefits of self-regulation were obvious.

“It can help us address a range of issues from establishing industry standards, through developing and applying codes of professional ethics, to ensuring consumer confidence,” he said.

There will be presentations, panel discussions and open forum on relevant topics pertaining to the main theme of the conference.

Speakers include Mr Steven Oluoch, the Chief Executive Officer of ICEA Lion General Insurance, Mr Justice Yaw Ofori, Insurance Commissioner; Ms Aretha Duku, President of the Ghana Insurers Association and Mr. Kwame Ofori, Chairman of the General Insurance Council of the Ghana Insurers Association.

The insurance industry is typically divided into Life Insurance and Non-Life Insurance (also called General Insurance). Non-life or General Insurance is a policy that insures anything other than the risk to a person's life.

General Insurance provides protection against unforeseeable contingencies like damage and loss of an asset. The different forms of general insurance are fire, marine, motor, accident and other miscellany of non-life insurance products.