By Elliot WILLIAMS
Ghana Reinsurance PLC, the country’s largest indigenous – and wholly state owned – reinsurance company, has held its 15th Cedants Awards Night.
The latest edition of the annual event, originally scheduled to take place late last year, was postponed due to unavoidable circumstances to January 17th 2025, when it was held at the plush Kempinski Hotel in Accra.
The event is held annually to recognize and honour insurance companies and reinsurance brokerage firms that have been exemplary in placing insurance cover with Ghana Re for reinsurance, in order to prudently share the risks incurred.
The latest edition was held under the theme: Rising Together – Honouring Partnerships and Excellence in Insurance and was attended by high powered delegations from most of the life and non-life (general) insurance firms in Ghana as well as the country’s Insurance Commissioner who was the special guest.
Several insurance firms were honoured with awards with the biggest winners being SIC Insurance for best Non-life cedant and Metropolitan Life for best Life cedant.
Speaking at the event, Ghana Re’s acting Managing Director, Monica Amissah enthused that the event recognizes “the remarkable journey of collaboration, trust and shared growth that has brought us this far,” adding that it is a “celebration of the partnerships that have been the cornerstone of our success.”
Noting that Ghana Re and its partners have tackled challenges, seized opportunities and upheld the principles of risk management she asserted that Rising Together is not just a theme for the event, but is a reflection of “the very spirit that drives our industry forward” which has enabled it in the recent past to overcome numerous challenges “from climate change and natural disasters through the unpredictability of global markets and evolving risks that demand our constant vigilance.
Said a grateful Ms Amissah: “This evening is our way of expressing our deepest gratitude for your confidence in Ghana Re PLC and the mutual success we have built together. We reaffirm our promise to support and grow with you in the years ahead.”
The keynote address at the event was delivered by the acting Commissioner of Insurance, Michael Kofi Andoh, who noted that “partnerships have become an important mechanism for managing competition. Partnerships enable businesses to share expertise one party lacks, opens access to new markets, enhance innovation and cut costs.”
He therefore wholly agreed that it is certainly worth the effort to honour Ghana Re’s partnerships with its cedants, noting that “in the insurance industry, strategic alliances and partnerships have been deployed to break new grounds in the areas of distribution, product innovation, premium payment, strategic corporate responsibility among others.”
He recounted some of the partnerships the National Insurance Commission, as the industry regulator had entered into towards developing Ghana’s insurance industry. These include a partnership with FSD Africa to implement a Regulatory Sandbox regime to attract, incubate and test innovative solutions to some of the challenges that hinder the development of the industry.
Another is a partnership with the Unites States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the International Labour Organization to implement an Agricultural Insurance Fund “to facilitate the delivery of suitable and affordable agricultural insurance products for both small and large scale farmers.”
A third is a partnership with the United Nations Development Programme to develop a new inclusive insurance strategy to reach micro, small and medium sized enterprises which are largely excluded from the insurance market.
Andoh entreated insurers to look ahead to stay abreast of evolving trends. “We need to avert our minds to key emerging trends which have the tendency to significantly impact the industry” he advised. “The digital revolution and climate change are two very important developments to carefully monitor and strategically respond to as they come with dire risks to our survival as well as decent opportunities for growth and development.”
Ghana Re is entitled, under current law to compulsorily receive 10% of all the reinsurance business generated in Ghana. Beyond this compulsory cedant business it has to compete with privately owned Ghanaian reinsurers, the pan continental Africa Re and a plethora of global reinsurers. While holding its own against them in Ghana itself, Ghana Re has, in recent years, established offices and extended its reinsurance activities to several other African countries.
