One of the oldest and highly regarded general (non-life) insurance firm, Provident Insurance has opened five new branches as a pivotal part of its wider effort to achieve the accessibility and visibility requisite for it. Last week, the company opened two branches in the Ashanti Region at Obuasi and Suame – a suburb of Kumasi. This week it opened three more, at Kasoa, Madina and Ashaiman.
The branch network’s rapid expansion is coming as Provident commemorates its 40th anniversary.
Provident is looking to its ongoing expansion to provide a fulcrum it can leverage on to recover the status it attained by the mid-1990s as a leader in Ghana’s insurance industry. The plan is to be able to reach its target market more readily; and from there the sheer quality of the products and services it offers and its superior customer service should be able to win them over. Besides its opening of brick and mortar branches, the company has also introduced a comprehensive digital platform for the delivery of its products and services. The platform, dubbed ‘Obaya’, enables customers to enjoy the company’s products and services wherever they may be.
Key to this strategy is the vastly improved motivation of the company’s staff. While this has raised operating costs, it has resulted in substantially improved revenues and greatly reduced business costs, due to the sharp improvements in quality of risk underwriting it engages in. Crucially, staff productivity has improved tremendously as measured in quantitative terms.
This is already yielding substantial results. In 2021, gross premiums generated by Provident rose by 33% over the previous year’s level – but even this paled beside the colossal 225% increase in pre-tax profits the company achieved for that financial year. Provident is yet to release its audited financials for 2022, but there is already wide anticipation that the resurgence in its financial performance will intensify even further.
Speaking at the commissioning of its latest branch, Daniel Adjei – relationship officer at the industry regulator, the National Insurance Commission – commended Provident for its prompt payment of claims, which is the most crucial aspect of the insurance business. Indeed, the company has built a solid reputation in this regard.
Mr. Adjei also noted the president’s commitment to ensuring its financial solidity for the ultimate benefit of its customers. The recent NIC recapitalisation of the insurance industry required primary non-life insurance companies, such as Provident, to increase their core capital to a minimum GH¢50million; but Provident went even further, taking its tier one share capital to GH¢55million.
The new capital is being put to good use, as the ongoing branch network expansion and introduction of the digital platform has brought the company to the insurance industry’s forefront – and it is now in the process of restoring its enviable status in the non-life insurance market.
Michael Ashong, Provident’s managing director and chief executive, is highly optimistic that the trajectory the company is on will ultimately restore it to the apex of Ghana’s insurance industry.
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