insurance-in-the-land-of-gold

The insurance industry in Ghana is regulated by the National Insurance Commission (NIC) while the Ghana Insurers Association (GIA) is the trade association for all companies licensed and registered to transact insurance and reinsurance business in Ghana. Over the years, the industry has experienced growth and rapid increase of private companies and brokers.

According to the NIC 2019 Annual Report, it is estimated that the industry currently employs over 12,000 people comprising of agents, brokers, insurers and reinsurers. Insurance penetration as at December 31, 2019 stood at approximately 1% which excluded health insurance and pensions. Including these would increase the penetration to about 3%.

The insurance market in Ghana has seen steady growth and change over the last number of years, with a GHS 515 million increase in premiums between the 2019 and 2020 financial years. The growth in the life insurance sector, has narrowed the gap between gross premiums in the life and nonlife industries.

This indicates a significant improvement in the awareness of the benefits of purchasing life insurance products in the market. The industry experienced a marginal decrease of 3.4% in total profit after tax from GHS 203 million earned in 2018 to GHS 196 million in 2019. Total gross premiums for insurance was GHS 3.5 billion in 2019; growth of approximately 21% from GHS 2.9 billion in 2018 while total reinsurance premium amounted to GHS 302 million.