NMB’s bancassurance services to spur insurance growth

Dar es Salaam. Tanzanians will now be able to access insurance services through NMB Bank’s branches, thanks to the launch of NMB Bancassurance product.

The launch - graced by the Commissioner of Insurance at Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authority (TIRA), Dr. Mussa Juma in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday, February 19, 2020 – enables clients across the country to access insurance services from six companies.

NMB has inked agreements with Sanlam Life, UAP, National Insurance Corporation (NIC), Jubilee, Zanzibar Insurance Corporation and Reliance that allows NMB Bank to act as insurance agent for the insurance firms.

NMB's senior manager for Insurance, Martin Massawe, said the bank’s presence in each and every district in Tanzania will spur the growth of the insurance sector and raise its contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“We received a Bancassurance license as soon as the regulations were ready. With our presence in each and every district of Tanzania, our Bancassurance business will help spur the growth of the insurance sub-sector,” he said

Gracing the event, Dr Juma said TIRA was undertaking various measures in a deliberate move to raise the contribution of the insurance sub-sector to Tanzania’s GDP from the current 0.7 per cent to three per cent by 2023 and five per cent by 2024.

“We also target that by the year 2024, 60 per cent of adult Tanzanians will have access to insurance services. Similarly, at least 60 per cent of the entire population should be aware of what insurance entails by the year 2024,” he said.

To achieve the goal, insurance companies, brokers, agents and Bancassurance service providers will be required to use technology to reach the lower end of the market segment.

“With concerted awareness campaigns, we are confident insurance services will be able to reach out to small scale traders and food vendors among others and that is how we will meet the intended growth for the sub-sector,” he said.

NMB Bank Plc has trained over 200 of its staff who have been duly certified to handle insurance services across its 224 branches countrywide, according to the bank’s Chief of Retail Banking, Mr Filbert Mponzi.

“Our coming into bancassurance business is a game changer. It will move the insurance sector to the next level,” he said.

He said the bank will make use of its NMB Business Clubs to create awareness on the importance of insurance among its clients.

NMB Bank,  he said, works with a number of businesses and individuals, including farmers who will be able to learn the type of insurance products that meet their various needs in their different locations.

“That way, we stand in a position whereby we can advise insurance firms on which products are required and which are not in accordance with the preferences of our various clients,” he said.

Contrary to assumptions that Bancassurance would drive insurance brokers and agents out of business, TIRA believes the service (Bancassurance) will only help to widen the scope and coverage of the sub-sector beyond the reach of the available insurance firms.