Aretha Duku
THE GHANA Insurers Association (GIA) at the weekend elected Aretha Abena Abrafi Duku as its president for the second term.
The investiture officiated by Justice Angelina Mensah, a High Court Judge, at the Movenpick Hotel in Accra, was followed by the swearing in of new board members for the GIA.
The Deputy Commissioner of Insurance, Michael Kofi Andoh, who delivered the keynote address on behalf of the Commissioner of Insurance, Justice Yaw Ofori, called on players in Ghana’s insurance landscape to invest massively in Information Technology (IT) to expand the frontiers of insurance to the youth.
According to him, as the world gets digitized, it was proper that insurance companies latch onto technology to further their services.
“The financial services are getting digitized. As you know now, people can sit at home or in their offices and pay people, transfer money, check their balances and trace their bank statements…” he stated.
The President of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nana Dr. Appiagyei Dankawaso I, who chaired the occasion, advised the insurance industry to guard against the increasing threat of cybercrime by investing in IT to forestall any financial losses to players.
Ms. Duku, who described her first tenure as a pleasant shock, said, “We have seen a lot of changes in the regulatory front. It’s been challenging but I was fortunate to enjoy the support of the outgoing board. We will continue with insurance education in all parts of the country and all sectors.”
“Without education, insurers are going nowhere. We want to pursue online space and reach even children with education on the usefulness of insurance. Technology would be embraced innovatively,” she stressed adding that “forensic lab and bonds are other areas GIA is working on. We want an insurance industry that would be respected, that can be the backbone of the economy.”