Two insurance products in store

By BERNARD LUGONGO

TANZANIA’s insurance industry may soon witness the coming of an eagerlyawaited key product - the bank insurance - as the country plans to introduce the regulation to guide its operations.

The regulation also intends to control another envisaged type of insurance, Takaful, according to the Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authority (TIRA). The bank insurance is a guarantee by a government or private company of all the deposits in a bank, at least up to a certain amount.
Whereas takaful, sometimes translated as “solidarity” or mutual guarantee is a co-operative system of reimbursement or repayment in case of loss, organised as an Islamic or sharia compliant alternative to conventional insurance.
TIRA Insurance Commissioner, Dr Baghayo Saqware told the ‘Daily News’ recently that the regulation is aimed at extending scope of insurance services and increase the contribution of the sector to national economy. “Extending the scope for availability of insurance services is another area of our focus this year; we will do it by introducing new insurance products,” Dr Saqware stated.
A recent report indicates that the industry grew by seven per cent to 660 billion/- in 2016, compared to 558bn/- recorded in the previous year. The report dubbed, ‘Annual Insurance Market Performance Report for the Year Ended 31st December 2016’ shows that a total volume of business, in terms of gross premiums written for both general and life assurance, increased by seven per cent in 2016.
“We don’t expect to havea downward growth trend as this year we look forward to grow even further,” he assured.
The Commissioner asked insurance companies to observe the guidelines on how to conduct their business, reminding them to read and understand the newly issued circular of 2017 for that matter.
Meanwhile, he said increasing the number of new employment opportunities in the sector was another area that TIRA would look into during this financial year, as it appealed to companies to consider recruiting young Tanzanian graduates, to help the government address unemployment. To the citizens, TIRA wants them to have more access to insurance services and trust on service providers since they are regulated under law.
“We encourage the citizens to reach us in case of any problem regarding insurance matters in order to reduce complaints over insurance activities in the country,” he said.