Mr. Kwaku Yeboah-Asuamah, Chief Executive Officer of UT Life Insurance Company Limited, has adviSeD Insurance Agents not to sell insurance to policy holders without explaining into detail the contents.
“Insurance agents do mis-selling; they do not take their time to explain policy-wording to the policy holders, and customers also do not read policy documents and ask questions before appending their signatures,” he said.
Although he said the public has had some doubt on how some insurance agents operate, “Our approach is to do more education; fortunately, the Insurance Commission has been doing education on that in the past two years”.
He said there is a need for insurance companies to educate the public on their rights and responsibilities, especially on the need to read policy documents and understand them before signing.
“We need to have decency in the industry, that is the only way we can grow. The nation as a whole needs insurance, and the Life business we do is a way of building national capital for development,” he added.
He stated that insurance will continue to grow: “If we look at the penetration, we have not done much; and our contribution to the Gross Domestic Products is less than 2%, so there is more room for improvement”.
The CEO was speaking in an interview with B&FT at the UT Life Annual Sales Conference at Busua in the Ahanta West district of the Western Region.
The conference was on the theme ‘Selling, the Pathway to Success’, and attended by top agents of the company to discuss concerns and complaints picked from the market and strategise for the future.
UT Life Insurance makes strides
He mentioned that there has been significant improvement in the company’s ratio since last year. The National Insurance Commisssion requires that anybody operating in the field of insurance needs to have a minimum capital of GH¢15million.
He said as at the end of December 2017, the company has gone up to GH¢36.5million “which is more than twice what is required at the NIC.
“Just this March we have further increased our capital to GH¢55.7million, and that shows you the commitment from our new partners, LeapFrog, since 2015,” he said.
He pointed out that LeapFrog is very much committed; they understand the business of insurance and have been on the African continent for so many years.
According to Mr. Yeboah-Asuamah, NIC also measures the company by a solvency ratio: “That is, to what extent we can pay our liability and still have some buffer.
“They require that we keep a minimum of 150%; as at December last year before introduction of the new capital requirement – when our capital was GH¢36.5million, our solvency ratio was around 200%. And with this new capital injection, our solvency ratio is likely to go to about 400-500%” he added.
“Our focus is on how to satisfy our customers; in terms of security, we are up and sound on the ground and we are reaching groups and many people,” he said.
Asked what the capital injections mean to the company, he explained that “capital injections which are constantly coming is an indication that, if anything happens, customers are assured there will be money to pay for their claims and investment as and when they mature.
“Customers have no cause to fear if they undertake life insurance with us: in December 2015, the life business was sold to LeapFrog and was no longer under UT Holdings; and since then, the company has been doing awesome. Last year, we grew up by 24%, and this year we are going to do better,” he concluded.
Annual Sales Conference
At the Annual Sales Conference, Mr. Maxwell Dodd, Country Manager of Econet Media – operator of Kwese TV – urged salespersons to be professional in their field of work.
“Be a performing salesperson, be ready to serve; educate yourself, produce results, be confident and committed to what you do,” he advised.
He said sales persons must raise peoples’ attention, interest; and have presentation skills and smile, as well as dress neatly as professionals.
