CRDB Bank, a leading bank in Tanzania, has announced plans to register its own insurance subsidiary firm.
The bank is currently already a broker and enjoying considerable premium back payments which almost double in the span of just 3 years (2016-2019).
In an interview with local media, CRDB’s Broker General Manager, Mr Arthur Mosha said in that short time, their premium levels are up from 44.2bn/- from 25bn/-
Not surprising, Tanzania’s insurance market grew by 8.6 percent in gross premiums over the course of the last financial year. As of 2018, Tanzania’s insurance industry had 31 insurance companies, 109 insurance brokers and 635 insurance agents.
For a country of 56 million people, the sector is hardly sufficiently serviced and there is enormous room for growth.
The bank’s brokerage services target mainly their own customers who now represent 70 percent of all their insurance customers. At the moment, the leading products that they offer include but are not limited to life coverage and health insurance.
The bank also offers comprehensive general coverage and innovative packages like the Educare package that offers both life insurance and a saving window all in one package that is most suitable for college students.
Already the firm has up to 40 personnel handling insurance services across some 300 bank branches spread across the country. Over the last decade alone, the bank has seen its premium increasing from 800m/- in 2011 to 12bn/- in 2014 and almost doubling by last year when it clocked 25bn/-.
CRDB’s growing interest in the insurance services sector serves to highlight the sector huge untapped potential. Many Tanzanians go about their daily lives with no insurance at all. Other than the common health coverage offered by employers in as part of their benefit packs, few people bother to get insurance coverage.
On the one hand, it is a lack of awareness on available insurance packages and their benefits while on the other hand, it is a misconception that insurance is very expensive. Increasingly there are micro-insurance plans for even the lowest income groups of the community but the public is yet to show interest, another business opportunity all on its own.
This news was Culled from The Exchange. Click here to view more.
