PARTICIPANTS of an insurance seminar at the Best Western Premier (BWP) Accra Airport Hotel have expressed great satisfaction at the array of facilities and services provided by the hotel during the two-day programme.
The seminar, held last week, was to build the capacity of insurers to better serve their clients and help improve the fortunes of the industry.
Dubbed ‘Open Marine Cargo Seminar,’ it was part of a month-long insurance awareness campaign led by the Ghana Insurers Association (GIA) and was meant to, among others, serve as a refresher course for insurers.
President of the GIA, Mr Seth Kobla Aklasi, told this reporter what he loved about the hotel was the swiftness with which issues or challenges are addressed should there be any challenge.
“Everything about this hotel is excellent. We had the conference room not well lit up and as soon as we drew attention of the relevant officers the issue was speedily addressed and I think that’s highly commendable,” Mr Aklasi explained.
At the opening of the seminar, the GIA President said “as an industry, in the midst of creating awareness, there is the need to build capacity and be ready to better serve our clients.”
There are marked changes in client and customer needs and they justify varied and innovative approaches to be able meet expectations.
The insurance staff were trained on marine and motor insurance, reinsurance, financial reporting and then technology.
With a world which is largely into digitisation , it is imperative that Ghana’s insurance industry is not left behind, hence an incorporation of the technology updates into the seminar , as they relate with operations in the industry.
“We are in difficult times and we cannot rely on investments alone , there is the need to train our people so they rise up to the occasion,”
Traditionally, the industry has relied largely on investment income to shore up its bottom line, but in the wake of the economic crisis which among others has culminated in debt restructuring exercise which has impacted negatively on the balance sheets of the financial sector , including the insurance industry,
“If the industry keeps making underwriting losses and we are losing income from interests as well then eventually we’re going to be brought to our knees , so we need to begin to do business as insurers to be able to make underwriting profits to compensate for the monies we’re losing from interest income,” he explained.
According to Mr Aklasi, the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) significantly reduced the margins of insurers , impairing huge amounts of their investments .
Management of the BWP told Business Finder it was happy to host the insurers and prayed that, “they enjoy their stay here.”
