Zeepay, United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and MoneyGram have announced a new additional service offered by Zeepay and UNCDF exclusively for MoneyGram’s customers to complement the life of the remitter and their friends and families back home.
The service is designed as a Micro Insurance product – known as Beneficiary Micro Insurance under the Zeemicro service offered by Zeepay. Under this new service, all MoneyGram customers that receive remittance from abroad will be enrolled automatically on a free microinsurance service that is valid for a month, with full benefits should an event occur.
The service is underwritten by reputable insurance partners such as Hollard Insurance, GLICO Life Insurance, Enterprise Insurance and State Insurance Corporation, which are all available under the service.
The service is fully approved by the National Insurance Commission and authorised by Bank of Ghana for Zeepay under the Payment Systems and Services Act, 2019 (Act 987). The product offers the following: Death cover of up to GH¢5,000; Hospitalisation up to GH¢3,000 (GH¢300 a day for 30 days); Permanent Disability of GH¢2,500; Temporary Disability of GH¢2,500; and Clinical Illness of up to GH¢2,500.
In an interview with the press, Andrew Takyi-Appiah said: “Insurance traditionally has been about protection and cover; however, over the years we have noticed that most insurance companies offer protection rather than both. Hence the reason why most Life Insurance balance sheets are not growing in the country, as predominantly they have become Asset Managers. We believe our product, Beneficiary Micro Insurance, will offer customers the long-awaited cover required”.
Dede Afriyie Quarshie, GM-Commercial, in her statement added that: “After three years of research, we observed that most immigrants abroad will have to send about US$1,000 home, whenever there is a death in the family. So, we partnered with UNCDF to launch this product for MoneyGram’s customers, which gives a death cover of up to about GH¢5000 in cedis should death occur in the family. So, by signing onto the product which costs as little as US$1 (although free for this promotion period of 6 months), the immigrant gets to save GH¢5,000 should such an event occur”.
Loretta Ofori-Ani, Zeepay Product Manager-Micro Insurance stated: “Last year, we ran a demonstration – and were very impressed with the results as we managed to insure over 2000 remittance receivers during that period. We are optimistic that over the next 6 months we should be able to sign on about 50,000 MoneyGram remittance receivers; making this the most credible micro insurance product in Ghana”.
In Ghana, UNCDF is tasked with leading efforts of the European Union to make remittances available and accessible for youth, women and returning migrants in the targetted areas and build on those flows to grant access to remittance-linked financial services to pave the way for more inclusive formal financial ecosystems.
In fulfilling this objective, UNCDF supports private sector players such as Zeepay Ghana to innovate and increase access and usage of these digital services. This partnership is around three critical pillars of the UNCDF action in Ghana under the GrEEn Project: 1) increase access and proximity of services reaching the underserved; 2) impact and improve jobs in the DFS sector, and 3) promote usage of digital financial services.
Under this partnership, Zeepay will increase access to and usage of digital financial services including remittance-linked services such as microinsurance for youth, women and returning migrants in the Ashanti and Western Regions. “Zeepay will create a new paradigm in areas of intervention for the GrEEn project, by expanding its product offerings and network of agents in areas where access to financial services and remittances remain a challenge; especially for youth and women,” said Arianna Gasparri, Technical Specialist, Inclusive Digital Economies-UNCDF.
