The National Insurance Commission, NIC has shutdown Zeta Insurance Brokerage for operating without a licence for the past five years.
According to the Insurance Commission, several warnings to the firm to cease operations fell on deaf ears. The firm has been operating from the headquarters of the Apostolic Church of Ghana near the Cocoa Clinic in Accra.
The Commissioner of Insurance, Yaw Ofori in an interview with Joy FM said the case is being investigated by the police.
“We did our investigation based on the hard work of our special investigation unit, those involved have been referred to the police, the police have actually started with the investigation and will eventually prosecute them..”
Under the Insurance Act 2006, Act 724, it is an offence for an insurance company to engage in the business of insurance with unlicenced intermediary or broker.
Insurance companies in good standing
Early this year, the National Insurance Commission released a list of Insurence companies in good standing.
The list included, 22 life insurance companies, 29 non life insurance companies and three reinsurance companies.
Insurance penetration rate drops to 1 percent
The country’s Insurance penetration rate has dropped to 1 percent from the previous rate of 1.12 percent, the 2018 report of the National Insurance Commission has revealed.
The decline of insurance penetration rate last year was witnessed despite the 21 percent growth in the industry’s gross written premiums. The NIC has blamed the reduction in the figures to the rebasing of the economy.
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According to the Insurance Commission’s 2018 report on the insurance industry, only 30 percent of Ghanaians have insurance cover.
The report also revealed that 28 Non-life insurance companies, 2 life insurance companies, 23 insurance brokers were sanctioned for various infractions in 2018.