The Minister for Finance, Dr Mohammed Amin Adams has tasked Insurance companies in the West African sub-Region to make good use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to make insurance attractive to people.
Speaking on behalf of the Sector Minister at the opening ceremony of the West African Insurance Companies Association (WAICA) Education Conference in Accra, Mr Sampson Akligoh, Director of Financial Sector Division of the Ministry of Finance, he emphasized the importance of aligning regulations with emerging technologies, particularly the rapid evolution of AI, which is globally revolutionising the insurance industry.
Mr Akligoh added that insurance plays a critical role in reducing risk for lenders by providing financial protection against borrower default. He also pointed out that, many insurance companies do not focus on the credit market, despite its importance to their operations.
He therefore called for efforts to enhance the role of insurance in local and national economies in the coming decade.
On his part, the Commissioner of Insurance (ag.), Mr Michael Kofi Andoh stressed the need to take seriously issues regarding climate change, which is affecting insurance operations and sustainability in the insurance industry across the sub regions.
According to him, climate change is another global issue that deserves a collective attention of WAICA.
Mr Andoh bemoaned the situation where the low insurance penetration in the sub-Region is affecting the perception of the public that insurance may not be doing well in spite of rapid growth in the past decade or so. He admonished practitioners to adopt a collective approach to address this concern.
The WAICA Education Conference brought personalities together from especially Anglophone West African sub-Region, which are Ghana, Nigeria, The Gambia, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
The theme for the conference, which was thoroughly discussed and presented was “Artificial intelligence and the Future of Insurance in the Sub Region” expertly, delivered by Mr Niyi Oyifade, Sector Head, Heirs Insurance Group, Nigeria.
Mr Ebo Richardson, a non-Executive Director of Innovare, Accra Digital Centre, delivered the second paper Deployment of AI across Insurance Value Chain.
The third insightful paper was on the thematic area, “Shaping the Industry’s Future – AI – The way to Go” was presented by Mr David Ofori Atta, Head of I.T at KEK Insurance Brokers.
A discussion session following these presentations was chaired by Dr. Abiba Zakariah, a seasoned Insurance Consultant and a former Managing Director of Ghana Reinsurance PLC as well as Chief Operations Officer of WAICA Re. The discussants were Mr Rotimi Fashola, Chairman of the West Africa Insurance Institute (WAII) in the Gambia and Mr Makaireh Badjan, Managing Director of Royal Insurance Gambia Limited.
The 3-day conference offered participants a unique opportunity to lace up their boots to take the first steps at being ahead of AI itself by way of marketing of insurance products, claims payment and fraud detection using AI.
Mr Davis Iyasere, Secretary-General of WAICA expressed appreciation to all sponsors, organisers, regulators and other stakeholders who made the Conference worth attending.
Plaques were presented to all paper presenters, discussants and the Chairperson.
The conference had W-Safe Reinsurance Company and WAICA Re as the headline sponsors whereas GN Re, Ghana Re, FBS Re and Continental Re were in the category of gold sponsors
The post WAICA Education Conference 2024 addresses Artificial Intelligence and the future of insurance appeared first on The Business & Financial Times.
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