UT Life Insurance To Rope In 2.5m Policyholders

Mr. Tiibu Aziz Rayamah, Managing Director of the newly rebranded UT Life Insurance Company, has disclosed that the company will rope in about 2.5 million policyholders by close of 2013 and further expand the branches of the company to seven by close of the year.

Mr. Rayamah said for life insurance to reach uninsured Ghanaians, it should be affordable, engaging and appealing to the insuring public. He made this observation at the launch of the reborn and rebranded UT Life Insurance Company - formerly Golden Life Assurance - last week.

He said the life insurance sector has not been understood by the nation and has been classified as a graveyard, whereas it should have been a vehicle for mobilising long-term funds for national development.

“Life insurance is the bedrock of savings for every nation’s development,” he explained. Mr. Rayamah said UT Life will use innovative ways and various channels to sell life products while ensuring the democratisation of insurance.

He said the company intends using all the twenty-six UT Bank branches as a channel to sell its products. “With our rich human resources who have experience and attitude, the company is well positioned for the competition ahead,” he emphasised.

He said the UT brand-effect will drive the fortunes of the rebranded company as it seeks to capture a large proportion of the uninsured within this year and the next. Currently, the percentage of life premiums to total gross premiums has increased from 26% in 2005 to 36% in 2009; but life insurance penetration is at a lowly 1.2% of the population.

UT Life is the product of acquiring majority shares in the erstwhile Golden Life Assurance Company by UT Holdings, the holding company for subsidiaries in the UT family. Its addition brings the subsidiaries of the UT Group to six comprising UT Bank, UT Properties, UT Collections, and UT Financial Services (Nigeria and Germany).

Source: B&FT