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The National Insurance Commission (NIC), regulator of the domestic insurance market, has hinted of plans to issue electronic stickers—something akin to the new Drivers’ Licence—to drivers by the end of this year.
“Should things go according to plan, the NIC will be rolling out the issuance of electronic stickers by end of the year as part of efforts to fight fake motor insurance in the market,” Mrs. Emma Ocran, Director of Legal Service at the NIC, told the B&FT at a public education durbar for drivers in Nsawam.
This move from the regulator will help to control instances when commercial drivers are deceived by fake insurance operators or agents into buying motor insurance products, only for them to be found wanting when they are involved in an accident.
It is also expected to encourage commercial drivers to access genuine cover, on which claims can be paid in real-time and within the broader context of deepening insurance penetration in the country.
Mrs. Ocran added: “It is difficult to fight what is happening because it has been difficult to track them—fake insurance agents—but with the e-stickers one can just get the car registration number on his/her mobile phone and be able to tell if an insurance is fake or not”.
She further asked drivers to beware of people who pose as insurance agents without a licence and sell fake policies – and advised that they request a form of identification anytime they want to purchase an insurance policy from an agent to be sure they are dealing with a genuine operator or agent.
The sensitisation exercise formed part of the industry regulator’s activities to enhance public awareness on insurance, especially commercial drivers.
Participants were sensitised on the various types of motor insurance, the benefits to be enjoyed on each cover and the various actions which would cause an insurance company not to pay claims to a driver in the event of an accident.
The Nsawam programme was the first of three such, with similar exercises carried out in Koforidua and Nkawkaw in the Eastern Region.
In the long-term it will increase insurance penetration; the more people buy insurance, the more the penetration – so, indeed, in the long-term it will boost the economy. It will accrue to the economy’s benefit because we will be able to gather more finances to help the nation’s economic growth.
