Africa-Press – Tanzania. LIFE insurance is a policy that is not clearly known to majority of Tanzanians despite availability and stability of the market in the country, it has been stated.
Experts in life insurance believe that agents have not sufficiently played their role in sensitising the public on the importance of the life cover as most of them focus on other categories.
Speaking on Saturday in Dar es Salaam during the Insurance Agents Association Tanzania annual meeting, Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authority (TIRA) Commissioner, Dr Mussa Juma said agents in the country must put more weight in the life insurance business as the market is stable and untapped.
Dr Juma asserted that most agents in the country have put much effort into motor vehicle insurance and forget about life insurance business that has more potential.
“Basically every Tanzanian should have life insurance, but as insurance agents, you have not done much in providing awareness on the area,” he noted.
He added, “There are many opportunities in the insurance market in Tanzania, and life insurance is the most stable one, focusing on the market will bring tremendous success to the community and the nation as a whole,”
He said insurance agents play a major role in developing countries, but here in Tanzania insurance brokers are the main contributors to the insurance market, so it is important to increase strength and cooperation so that the nation can benefit through their work.
According to a report released by TIRA in 2018, life insurance gross premiums written by Tanzanian insurers amounted to 104.3bn/-, compared to 80.8bn/- in 2017, representing an increase of 29 per cent.
In 2018, Tanzania’s life insurance portfolio consisted of group life 79.7 per cent, individual life 20.0 per cent, and other life 0.3 per cent.
On a class-by-class basis, the highest growth rate in Tanzania’s life business was experienced by group life with 38.6 per cent, followed by other life 12.5 per cent and individual life 1.3 per cent.
Life insurers’ assets rose by 7.7 per cent in 2017–2018, from 222.8bn/- to 240bn/-, while their liabilities increased by 9.5 per cent during the same period, from 171.1bn/- to 187.3bn/-.
The Commissioner further said agents have to work hard to ensure that the insurance market grows and contributes significantly to the economy, adding that all activities need to be insured, therefore providing education is important.
Earlier, the Chairperson of the Agents Association, Mr Daudi Sayi said for the country to build a strong network, it is important that TIRA looks at how to put it in the law that every agent must be a member of the association.
“Among the challenges that we propose TIRA should work on is to eliminate Fixed Deposit Rate (FDR) for life insurance agents or having a year-round exemption, or insurance companies should be responsible for paying agents to increase the scope of such insurance,” he said
