Founder of Serene Insurance, Eric Seddy Kutortse together with other dignitaries
Serene Insurance Company Limited has officially been inaugurated in Tema in the Greater Accra Region to provide various insurance products to the general public.
The Insurance Company, a subsidiary of the First Sky group, is poised to offer insurance cover focused on non-life and general insurance in the country.
The insurance company's initial capital is GHC 20 million even though the minimum capital required by law to set up insurance company is GHC15 million, indicating how poised Serene Insurance is to insure lives and properties in Ghana.
According to the company's Chief Executive Officer, Christopher Boadi-Mensah, Serene Insurance would redefine insurance in Ghana.
Mr. Boadi-Mensah assured the general public of the company's commitment to not only address the needs of the largely uninsured portions of Ghanaian, but also to offer tailor-measured products and services that meet the needs of the insuring public of Ghana.
He said,no outstanding claim would stand in their books one week after receiving the last documents from the claimant. Trivial claims like dents, windscreen damage, or vehicle scratch should be settled in a day after providing the estimate.
He added that the company was borne out of the passion and desire to redefine the insurance landscape in Ghana under the guidance of an astute Board of Directors of diverse backgrounds and proven track-record.
He was optimistic that, the company will efficiently deploy state-of-the-art technology in all its operations in order to adequately address the needs of clients on both the supply and demand sides.
“We shall improve insurance service delivery through progressive technology that reduces cost and provides better coverage and services to policyholders,” he said.
Mr. Boadi-Mensah allayed the fears of many Ghanaians on how payment of insurance claims were delayed and the fact that some insurance agents fail to clearly explain insurance policies to clients, among other factors.
“Serene Insurance Company Limited is making a solemn pledge today to positively redefine public perception of insurance in Ghana. We shall establish a hallmark of team work, integrity and customer-focused service delivery that value the client as our main reason for being in business,” the CEO affirmed.
He added that,his outfit would work closely with the regulator to increase insurance penetration in Ghana.
Speaking at the launch, the Deputy Minister of Finance, Charles Adu-Boahene, disclosed that the Akufo-Addo administration remains unequivocally focused on creating the right macro-economic environment for private sector participation in the country’s economy, adding that while total assets of the insurance industry grew by 26% to GHC5.45billion, the Life sector recorded a growth of 28% (from GHS2.24bn in 2016 to GHS2.89billion in 2017).
He said, although there are positive developments in the insurance sub-sector with premium income growing from 24 per cent in 2016 to 26 per cent last year, huge premium incomes leaving the country remains a source of worry to government.
According to him, total reinsurance premium transfer out of the country amounted to over GH?13.5 million last year although the Insurance Act, 2006 (Act 724) requires that insurers fully utilize local market capacity before resorting to overseas reinsurance.
The minister, therefore, tasked the National Insurance Commission(NIC) to strictly enforce the aforementioned law to ensure they exhaust local capacity requirements.
He, however, urged the NIC to also build the capacity of local insurance companies to be able to handle the risk in the oil and gas sector, among others.
“The risk in the oil and gas sector is so huge that the entire insurance industry in Ghana has just a fraction of it and the rest goes outside the country. There is the need for insurance companies in Ghana to build capacity in order to retain most of such risks, since this would go a long way to support the economy because the premiums would be kept here in Ghana,” the Deputy Finance Minister said.
He, therefore, urged managers and shareholders of Serene Insurance Company to uphold the highest ethical standards.
On his part, the Executive Chairman of First Sky Group, Eric Seddy Kutortse said their vision is to be the leading model for delivering value in the insurance industry by providing innovative products and excellent service delivery that combine both efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
He noted that their time-tested core values of excellence, hard work, touch of quality, integrity and good corporate governance, and most importantly service to God and mankind, have remained key features of their story thus far.
These, Mr. kutortse indicated coupled with their unique sense of corporate social responsibility and humanitarian assistance, underline the modest successes they have chalked as a group.
According to him, over the years, the First Sky Group has been paying close to GH?3 million as annual insurance premium to other insurance companies but with the coming on board of Serene Insurance, these premiums will now be retained within the group.
Mr. Kutortse intimated that much as the insurance industry is full of opportunities, their primary objective as a Group goes beyond profit making.
“We at First Sky believe we have a responsibility to our Maker to advance God’s kingdom business and help ameliorate unfortunate human conditions. The effort to bring development and relief to our people must not rest only with the government. Our desire as a Group is therefore to partner government in this journey by investing in critical areas of our economy, which would stimulate employment creation, address societal needs and further improve the well-being of our people,” he emphasized.
