Ghana hosts Insurance Companies from the Sub-Region

Accra, March 18, GNA - Ghana will host insurance industry practitioners from West Africa to discuss how they could develop their expertise to become key players in the sub-region's emerging oil industry.

The four-day meeting, being held under the auspices of West Africa Insurance Companies Association (WAICA), is scheduled from Monday, March 21-24 and forms part of the association's 32nd Annual General Meeting and Educational Conference.

Over 200 participants are expected to attend the conference, under the theme: 93Oil Discovery in West Africa: Its Impact on the Socio-Political and Economic Development of the Sub-Region and the vital Role of the Insurance Industries in the Management of this National Resource."

Addressing the media ahead of the conference Mr. William Agbenyega, Vice-President of WAICA, said it would serve as a platform to enhance the understanding of most staff of insurance companies on issues in the oil industry.

He said Ghanaian insurance companies must build their capacity and expertise to take advantage of the oil industry or risk losing the market to overseas companies.

"This is why it is necessary to listen to experts on how to handle insurance issues in the oil industry. We must train and prepare ourselves to be able to take a portion of the premium income from the huge oil industry," he said.

Mr. William Coker, Secretary General of WAICA, said the conference was focused on the oil industry because insurance companies needed to ensure they were adequately prepared to handle the boom and encourage a certain level of control.

He said although the combined capacity of the insurance industry was small vis-=E0-vis the oil industry, the companies were resolved to make a lot more from the oil discoveries.

In Ghana, for example, a consortium of insurance companies has been formed to enable them underwrite certain risks to maintain as much as possible and retain the premium benefits in the country. WAICA was established in May, 1973 by insurance companies from English speaking West Africa.