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Two key type of insurance policies – widely used in more developed financial services jurisdictions but up till now unused in Ghana – have been introduced to the country’s various genres of insurance industry operators, with the expectation that they will develop and offer the products to the banking industry whose risks they were designed to ameliorate.
The two products, which are both part of Financial Lines insurance used by banks, are Bankers Blanket Bonds – a form of all-risk insurance policy aimed to protect banks against operational losses incurred from their risk-related activities; and Cyber Insurance, which seeks to protect policy-takers against risks arising from cybercrime and other IT-related losses.
The new products were introduced to Ghana’s primary underwriters, reinsurance firms, insurance brokers and reinsurance brokers at a one-day training session held on Wednesday at Holiday Inn in Accra. The training programme was organised by FBS Reinsurance Limited, an Abuja, Nigeria-headquartered reinsurance firm that has part-Ghanaian shareholding and is active in Ghana’s insurance market.
The training was organised to stimulate activity in Ghana’s insurance market and redirect policy risk toward FBS for risk-sharing through reinsurance cover. Resource persons were provided by FBS Re itself and by MNK Re of London, a member of the globally renowned Lloyds insurance syndicate.
The organising team was led by Shola Ajibade and Gbolahan Taru, Director of Operations and Senior Manager respectively at FBS Re; as well as Victor Akinsanya, Director Africa of MNK Re; Steve Kyeremanten, the Accra-based Chief Operating Officer of FBS Re; and Oluwatayo Morebise, a Manager with FBS Re.
Presentations on BBBs and Electronic Crime were delivered by Manaj Kumar and Ekaansh Verma, MD/CEO and Underwriter respectively at MNK Re. These were followed by a presentation on cyber insurance by Luke Hamlin of MNK Re’s Business Development department.
Speaking at the event, Steve Kyeremanten referred to Ghana’s recent banking industry reforms in which the state paid out billions of cedis in borrowed funds to depositors in 11 banks which had to be liquidated due primarily to severe illiquidity challenges.
“Part of the losses which had to be funded by government through external loans could have been absorbed by the insurance market through the payment of BBB claims to insured banks in Ghana,” Kyeremanten asserted, encouraging the Bank of Ghana to enforce the purchase of BBBs by banks which it regulates.
The training programme was well attended by 35 financial services industry executives in person, while another 10 participated virtually through digital channels.
Apart from insurance industry executives, the training programme was also attended by senior level participants from Fidelity Bank and Consolidated Bank Ghana.
bftonline.com
