Prevalence in 'reverse insurance culture' must change – Insurance firms tasked

Insurance penetration needs to improve – Experts

NIC urged to develop and improve on tailor-made insurance products

Patronage in insurance products key to growth of industry – Baba Rahman

A former president of the Ghana Insurance Association (GIA), Emmanuel Baba Mahama has charged insurance firms operating in the country to change the prevalence of “reverse insurance culture”

Read full articleamong Ghanaians.

Reverse Insurance Culture exists in the form of Ghanaians receiving monetary support which is used to finance or mitigate risks or disasters when they occur.

Baba Mahama however believes that this culture has become common in both urban and rural communities across the country and therefore calls for a change.

Addressing participants at a public lecture in Accra, the former GIA president said a change will help improve patronage in insurance products, improve penetration, and the general insurance industry.

“Reverse insurance is common among rural communities and urban centres in Ghana. It has been the way of life of Ghanaians for centuries. In the Ghanaian society, families or individuals usually get monetary support to finance expenses of funerals in the form of contributions to the bereaved family or individuals,” Baba Mahama said.

“The difference here is that, with modern insurance, the said family or individual has to first pay premiums to access the needed funds to finance the funeral when it is due. But with reverse insurance, they quickly get the funds to finance the funeral when the time is due or even after the funeral through contributions made to them” he explained.

He further stressed the need for insurance firms to change the prevalence of “reverse insurance culture” to avert the continuation of the low insurance penetration rate in the country.

“If we are trying to make insurance the Ghanaian way of life, then we are wrestling with culture, specifically the reverse and to change the reverse insurance culture of Ghanaians, then we must come up with a lot more innovations in the insurance industry and think long-term.”

Baba Mahama made the comments when he delivered a public lecture in Accra on the theme; “Making Insurance the Ghanaian Way of Life”.


MA/FNOQ