NIC To Introduce New Regulations For Tech-based Insurance Start-ups

The National Insurance Commission (NIC) has revealed plans of introducing regulations to guide the operations of technology based insurance new companies (insurtechs) in the country.

Speaking at a Demo Day event for the Ghana Innolab Insurtech Accelerator Program in Accra, the Deputy Commissioner of Insurance, Michael Kofi Andoh, said despite the fact that new Insurance Act 2021 (Act 1061), had broad provisions for the activity of insurtechs in the country, the regulations that would give catalyst for giving innovative licenses were at this point to be completed.

He said the NIC was focused on issuing guidelines with fitting safeguards that would give comfort to the market.

According to Mr Kofi Andoh, while insurtechs can possibly change the delivery of insurance services, it is consistently a difficult act for controllers all over the world, who need to consider how best to receive its rewards, while providing safeguards to fair client treatment, governance and security.

He additionally noticed that the introduction of insurtechs in Ghana would offer stakeholders the opportunity to leverage on innovative solutions to enhance the insurance sector and businesses.

This will enable and deepen access to insurance which is a critical component of the economy, livelihood and businesses at large. The yet to be finalized regulations will also develop the insurance market landscape.

He thusly asked insurance companies working in the country to collaborate with insurtechs to assist with transforming the delivery of insurance services in the country.

The Insurtech Accelerator Program:

The Innolab Insurtech Accelerator Programme was launched in January, 2022 by NIC, with partnership from GIZ. It is designed to help grow the country’s insurtech start-ups, while also unlocking innovations that could help transform the insurance industry.

The programme selected 10 innovators, who were taken through a 10-week training to help them scale up.

The Insurance Company Ranked As One Of The Best In The World By Revenue

In support of the programme, the GIZ, through its Financial Systems Development component, supported the three winning firms with €20.000 each to further develop their innovative solutions into sustainable insurance products and services to promote financial inclusion and drive Ghana’s insurance industry forward.

NIC was convinced that all the ten selected firms would be agents of the change needed for the transformation of the industry.

According to officials of NIC, this programme is an enabler for potential partnerships between our good selves and this cohort of insurtechs, to leverage their innovative solutions to support our business processes.

Globally, there is a growing shift in the way insurance business is done, particularly in risk transfer, insurance distribution, and customer experience. Therefore harnessing innovation continues to be an essential element of the strategic policy objectives of the NIC.

Meanwhile, the government of Ghana had figured out the National Financial Inclusion and Development Strategy (NFIDS) and had supplemented it with the Digital Financial Services (DFS) policy and a digital payment guide to act as a plan for accomplishing a digitized society.