Ecobank Ghana Limited has ventured into the bancassurance business through a partnership with Africa's number one insurance company, Old Mutual Life Assurance Company (Ghana) Limited.
The partnership makes it possible for the Ghana unit of Old Mutual, a South African-based insurer, to sell its life assurance products to the Ghanaian public through the 78 branches of Ecobank, where the banking needs of over 800,000 customers are served on a daily basis.
The union between the two institutions was unveiled in Accra last Friday, bringing to an end six months of negotiations between the bank and the insurer to iron out the nitty-gritties of the agreement.
The Executive Director of Domestic Banking at Ecobank Ghana, Mr George Mensah Asante, said the partnership formed part of Ecobank's aim of becoming a one-stop shop for financial sector solutions in the country.
As a bank with a wider network nationwide, Mr Asante said Ecobank realised that it could leverage that platform to provide its customers with an added service in the form of bancassurance, a product that was fast gaining currency in the country.
He explained that the choice of Old Mutual over other insurance companies was informed by the similarities in the values and visions that the two institutions upheld.
"In things like this, you do not just partner with anybody. So we looked around and found Old Mutual, which is an African giant, a global name and well respected to bring insurance to the door-steps of Ecobank customers," he said after the launch in Accra.
Ultimately, Mr Asante said the bank would also be using the partnership to contribute its quota to the growth of insurance penetration in the country.
"We think that this is our contribution to the development of insurance penetration in the country. Because of our network and position as the biggest bank in Ghana, we realised that if we begin to sell insurance, then we can get many people to buy insurance and that goes beyond the revenues we will make and things like that," he said.
"Our venture into the bancassurance business is not only the fact that it is lucrative. We are looking at helping to improve insurance penetration in Ghana," he added.
First four products
Although Old Mutual is about six months old in the country, the company has already introduced about four products which are being sold prior to its current partnership with Ecobank.
The Ghana Head of Old Mutual, Mrs Nicolette Hendricks, said the products - the funeral or transaction plan, education plan, international travel plan and the credit life policy - would now be made available to Ecobank customers nationwide.
She explained that the credit life policy would make it possible for Old Mutual to underwrite all loans given by Ecobank to its customers.
Mrs Nicolette thus urged customers of the bank to request such services in their respective branches as and when they visited.
The Director of Legal Services at the National Insurance Commission (NIC), Mr Emma Ocran, lauded the partnership and pledged to provide the necessary regulatory environment for bancassurance to thrive in the country.
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