As published on nilepost.co.ug on August 11th 2024
Insurance brokers, Minet Uganda have extended services to reinsurance, a move which is aimed at expanding their operation base in the country.
The company officially launched its services during a function held at Sheraton Hotel Kampala. Speaking during the function, the director supervision at Insurance Regulatory Authority, Mr Bernard Obel hailed Minet for expanding wings into reinsurance but urged that them to put much emphasis on cyber risk.
“There are many transactions that take place online now, and any time the systems may be hacked and money lost by the banks. We ask Minet to enter into this space of reinsurance,” Obel said.
He said the entry of Minet into reinsurance is yet another achievement for the country’s insurance sector.
“This yet another milestone into our journey of robust and dynamic insurance sector. This is a pivotal step towards enhancing the depth and sophistication of our financial landscape. In rapidly developing environment, it is imperative that our local industry remains agile, innovative and capable of meeting emerging challenges.”
He said the addition of Minet, a reputable player in the reinsurance sector will not only enhance quality of reinsurance services but also stimulate greater competition and innovation to foster economic growth within the country.
According to Alex Onen, the CEO of Minet Uganda Reinsurance Brokers Limited, having been licensed early this year, they have now hit the ground running.
He explained that the company is part of the Minet Africa group with headquarters in South Africa, adding that Uganda is the fourth country where the company has expanded wings into reinsurance. The others are Kenya, Botswana and Lesotho.
“We are here to provide reinsurance solutions to insurers and reinsurers. We shall try and address many risks in the market but cyber is very key since it can have a devastating effect. We shall be big on it,”Onen said.
Maurice Amogola, a director at Minet Uganda said expanding into reinsurance is another opportunity for the company to help spur the country’s economic growth.
“Insurance is a very critical aspect of life as it is part of risk management. Without insurance we can’t have economic development because when things go wrong, you don’t have a fallback position. Insurance in Uganda has been growing and by December 2023, the market had underwritten a gross premium of shs1.6 trillion. Of this, shs600billion is life insurance which is savings of Ugandans. These enhance economic development and the other shs1 trillion is general insurance premiums,” Amogola said.
“These general insurance premiums need insurance of insurance and it is what we are here to do. These insurance companies need insurance brokers to negotiate how they can get support. Minet undertook to look at that particular opportunity.”
