Concerned by the low level of insurance penetration, industry’s players, under the auspices of the African Insurance Organisation (AIO) have revealed plans to adopt technology or market expansion across African countries.

In recent decades, they said insurance penetration in Nigeria and the African market had remained abysmally low owing to several factors.

Industry operators, after due consultations with other stakeholders, reached a resolution to increase penetration through the adoption of technology to grow the African economy.

In a communiqué issued, operators across the continent were urged to drive insurance growth and deepen penetration through the deployment of technology with a focus on artificial intelligence and the development of insurance products that cover the developmental action of the government.

In the meeting, stakeholders agreed to collaborate and work with respective governments to ensure that insurance companies can contribute directly to the economy and design insurance products that effectively cover the developmental actions of the government and deepen insurance penetration at all levels.

Stating that cross-border collaborations would improve insurance penetration and growth while proactively and collectively embracing AfCFTA, operators agreed to “invest in quality education for both the practitioners and the whole populace especially in financial literacy; and set up of schools and scholarships amongst others.

“Invest in sustainable projects and financing of facilities developments; move to risk-based supervision in line with current global best practices; create a thriving business enabling environment for all practitioners.”

The communiqué also called for the encouragement of active participation of all-female insurance practitioners in the activity of PILA Africa to facilitate effective networking and growth of the African insurance industry.

Earlier, the former president of AIO, Mrs. Delphine Traore, who is also the Chief Operations Officer of Alliance Africa, said innovation in the insurance sector would help in complementing government programmes in economic growth and development.