Government has outlined the importance of the Motor Insurance Contract Database which was implemented this year in collaboration with the National Insurance Commission (NIC).
Operationalisation of the database would enable the Commission to centralise data on all insurance contracts to effectively manage the claims process to ensure reliable, convenient and prompt payment of genuine claims to deserving clients.
The initiative is expected to remove all bottlenecks and eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy associated with the process and ensure that policy holders get their claims in a timely manner.
Speaking on the implementation of the initiative, Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia noted that the motor insurance database will among other things help to curb the menace of vehicles with fake motor insurance ticket plying Ghana’s roads.
Indeed, with the digitisation of the motor insurance database, all insurance policies which now have security features have been synchronised to a national databse which can be accessed with mobile phones by the general public.
“Members of the public can also self check the authenticity of their insurance policy by dialing *920.57#. Once you dial, you will know whether the vehicle is insured or not before boarding. Both the police and the public can easily check which vehicles have insurance or not”, he explained.
Insurance claims cover everything from death benefits on life insurance policies to compensation for loss of or damage to assets through general (non-life) insurance policies.
Insurance companies validate the claim submitted by the policy holder, and once approved, it issues payment to the insured or an approved interested party.
However, there have sometimes been numerous delays associated with the validation and payment of claims in the country, thus the implementation of a centralized database is expected to reduce the inefficiencies in the claims process.
Of particular importance, the establishment of the database system would also enable the Commission to better regulate motor insurance, which is compulsory and thus the biggest segment of the non-life insurance market.
This is part of a concerted effort to clamp down on fake motor insurance in the country.
