At least 40 insurance professionals in The Gambia are benefitting from a training designed to boost their technical skills and understanding of engineering and business interruption insurance policy.
The four-day capacity building seminar, opened on Monday, was organised by the Ghana Reinsurance Company and hosted by the Insurance Association of The Gambia (IAG) at a hotel in Kololi.
Molifa Sanneh, secretary general of IAG, said it was the first time that the Gambia insurance market was benefiting from a technical training on the subject, engineering and business interruption underwriting.
It was part of Ghana Reinsurance Company’s efforts to give back to the Gambian market for the patronage the company has been receiving from The Gambia.
Mr Sanneh said the training was very important because the infrastructural development The Gambia has been witnessing comes with some risks.
The construction and other civil engineering works come with certain types of risks to the contractors, supervisors, and all the other workers and these risks are covered under engineering and business interruption insurance policy.
“In essence, the training will equip our insurance companies to take care of the risks that come with infrastructural development of the country,” the IAG SG said.
Mrs Monica Amissah, deputy managing director (technical) of Ghana Reinsurance Company, said the company annually organises workshops and seminars for their clients.
“We have been having these seminars because of our belief that development of technical capacity is an important tool for the growth of underwriters and the insurance industry,” she said.
“We deemed it as an opportune time to come to The Gambia, taking into consideration the emerging trends in insurance and the on-going infrastructural projects across Gambia and in other countries in the sub-region.”
The Commissioner of Insurance at the Central Bank of The Gambia, Pa Alieu Sillah, said the training and technical insurance knowledge to be gained will produce the requisite skilled manpower to enable a more meaningful contribution to the development of companies in the country.
He implored the participants to make most of the training and share the knowledge gained with their colleagues back in their respective companies.
Mr Sillah said the CBG, as the insurance regulatory authority, is committed to a better regulated industry that has the capacity in all respects to enable the companies honour their obligations particularly those related to the payment of claims.
“To that end, the insurance legislation is under review with the technical assistance from the African Development Bank,” he said, adding that the review is substantially anchored on the core principles of risk-based insurance supervision.
Other features of the review would include the establishment of an independent insurance commission, fire services maintenance fund, motor compensation fund, insurance of commercial buildings, consumer protection, and local content and co-insurance provisions.
According to the CBG official, the proposed upcoming regulatory framework would among other things strengthen safety and security of insurance operations through the issuance of a guidelines on micro insurance, claims management, corporate governance, reinsurance arrangements, among others.
The four-day training is being delivered by Mr Gustav Siale, a seasoned insurance professional who had served as the managing director of Ghana Reinsurance Company and a current part-time lecturer in liability insurance at University of Ghana Business School.
