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By Elliot WILLIAMS Last week, the Insurance Brokers Association of Ghana, IBAG, hosted various stakeholders and representatives of potential clients as well as regulators at the Accra City Hotel, in order to enlighten them on the role of insurance brokers and how participants in socio-economic and commercial activity can benefit from patronizing their services. Invited attendees at the event included officials from the Ministry of Finance, Ghana Shippers Authority, Ghana Road Transport Union and the Cyber Security Authority, as well as IBASG’s regulator, the National Insurance Commission (NIC) and the media. They were all taken through a comprehensive presentation by IBAG’s President, Shaibu Ali, detailing what insurance brokers do, how they do it and the pivotal advantages of using them. The event was a reaction to the realization by IBAG that the insurance brokerage industry is not sufficiently widely understood by its potential markets, a situation which constrains the broker’s ability to achieve their full potential and prevents the economy from fully benefitting from the advantages they offer. Indeed, there is an inordinate, widely held misconception that insurance brokers have to be paid by the insuring client, thereby adding to the cost of insurance. In actual fact though, insurance brokers are paid by the insurance underwriting company with whom they place the business given them by the client, who therefore enjoys an invaluable professional service without having to pay anything for it. IBAG is perfectly positioned to rectify this widely held misconception. It is the national trade association of insurance and reinsurance brokers, as well as loss adjusters in Ghana. The association was inaugurated in 1988 with 15 licensed brokerage members and has since grown into a grouping with a membership of 115 licensed forms over a 37-year period. Last week’s event was in line with IBAG’s charter to, among many other things, spread the knowledge of insurance and insurance broking among the public. In his presentation Shaibu Ali explained that insurance brokers are independent professional intermediaries who represent the interests of their clients by ensuring they get the right insurance product, at the right premium (ie price) with the right terms from the right insurance company. “A client who buys an insurance policy taken through a broker gets the best of claims service because the broker takes over the responsibility of dealing with the claim from beginning to the end” Shaibu Ali also assured his audience. The IBAG President also used the opportunity to enlighten attendees as to the fact that new, specialized insurance products are being devised and deployed to address the increasing sophistication of socio-economic and commercial activity and the consequent operational risks arising. He gave examples such as Cyber Risk Insurance to ameliorate risks arising from technological advancements; Directors & Officers Liability Insurance cover made necessary by the prominence given to corporate governance lately; and Medical Malpractice Insurance Cover which affords medical practitioners the opportunity to meet a legal requirement of providing a professional indemnity cover that will pay for court awards following law suits from patients or their estates who feel aggrieved by one thing or the other concerning the medical treatment delivered. “There are several other policies that have come up aside from the traditional policies such as fire, motor, life and others that we are accustomed to” noted Ali, “but what is the use of these policies if people who are supposed to benefit from them do not know about them?” he then queried. He encouraged his audience to build a relationship with an (insurance broking) professional who understands their respective industries, people and risks “because in the world of business, the right insurance broker is not just a safety net but your strategic ally for resilience and growth.”
