Hollard Insurance Expands in Ghana

March 25 - Hollard Insurance, the South African insurance group, has partnered with MTN cellular service provider, to bring Ghanaians a new insurance product.

The product will provide mobile financial services for low income earners in Ghana.

It will essentially see cell phone users paying for their life insurance policies through MTN's mobile money service, allowing those who don't have a bank account to enjoy cover for the first time in their lives.

"Until now, insurance hasn't really been made available or targeted at that low income market," said the Head of Micro Insurance for the Hollard Insurance Group, Jeremy Leach. "It allows us to reach our market in a fantastic way."

He added: "Typically insurance has been predicated around bank accounts, and in Ghana only 34 percent of people have a bank account."

Users can purchase life insurance by texting a message to a specific number and then being taken to a series of menus.

Alternatively, they can go to an MTN service center to register for a life insurance policy, which can then be managed with their phone.

"It's not a generic life insurance where we're using phones as a medium to connect the cash," explained the general manager for MNT in Ghana, Bruno Akpaka, who added that the policies were tailor made.

Hollard Insurance said that it would examine other ways to bring micro-insurance to Ghana's low income market.