The Deputy Commissioner of the National Insurance Commission (NIC), Michael Andoh has intimated that insurance companies must clearly define the benefits of insurance policies to their existing and prospective clients to engender the trust of the general public to sign on to new packages introduced and to boost insurance penetration rate within the sector which remains low at 1 percent.
Mr. Michael Andoh further asserted that it behoves on firms under the insurance industry to train their sales agents on new products and task them to give detailed definition of insurance policy benefits to clients before selling it to them.
The NIC Deputy Commissioner made such comments when speaking at the launch of ‘Eduflex’ a new insurance product introduced by Allianz Life Insurance, a renowned insurance firm in Ghana.
The Chief Executive Officer of Allianz Life Insurance, Gideon Ataraire, sharing his thoughts on the new insurance package opined that parents seeking to cater for the educational needs of their children in the future must do so using insurance rather than turning to their savings.
“People always confuse insurance and savings. Each individual may have investment or savings or retirement needs. They usually take care of all these, forgetting that they have to protect their savings or investment.
“And you protect these things by buying insurance so that in the event something happens, you don’t go take money from your savings or investment but [you] allow the insurance to take care of it,” he added.
Mr. Ataraire further said that with the right insurance policy such as the Allianz Life Insurance ‘Eduflex’ plan introduced by its outfit, parents would have the means of taking care of their children’s education even in the event they pass on.
Giving further insight into the new insurance package, the CEO revealed that the Eduflex plan allows the policyholder to save towards their children’s education and also protects their savings from any exigencies as may arise.
Explaining how the plan works, Jane Kitome, Chief Retail and Marketing Officer at Allianz Life Insurance enunciated that Eduflex provides financial security by helping one meet education goals for their children.
The policyholder can choose guaranteed death benefits that will be paid to their beneficiary and the payments that are made above the cost of insurance can grow in a savings fund, Mrs. Kitome pronounced.
“The insured and the beneficiary/ beneficiaries enjoy life insurance protection during the term of the policy and an additional accidental injury cover for the beneficiary. This education savings plan is intended to accumulate funds for the sole purpose of funding the education of your children”.
Commenting on the distinctiveness of Allianz Life Insurance’s ‘Eduflex’ on the market, the Chief Retail and Marketing Officer said that apart from the cover the policy provides, policyholders can access a percentage of the total insurance premium contribution after two years if no claim is paid on the policy and every two years thereafter if no claims are made.
Allianz Life Insurance finally encourages both existing and prospective clients to take advantage of this new insurance package as it is very relevant, because schools have reopened and signing on to such an initiative will be very beneficial to the general public.