NBC, Britam trains insurance agents
THE National Bank of Commerce (NBC) in collaboration with the Britam Insurance Tanzania have launched a special training for the bank’s agents in the Lake and the North Zone regions aimed at equipping them with tools and knowledge on insurance services in order to promote sales.
Organized by the Britam Insurance Tanzania, the one-week training held in Mwanza and Arusha regions and facilitated by the Africa College of Insurance and Social Protection (ACISP).
Commenting on the training, NBC Bank Director of Retail Banking , Mr Elibariki Masuke and Britam Insurance Tanzania Chief Executive Officer, Mr Raymond Komanga, said the initiative aimed at increasing the penetration of insurance service right into the grassroots’ countryside through the bank’s ready-made agencies network spread all over the country.
Elaborating, Mr Masuke added: “With a network of over 10,000 agents, we are optimistic to reach the masses, because the move is also an opportunity for our agents to increase their income as they will not only do banking transactions, but also start doing insurance transactions and thus increase their income through commissions.”
He further said in a way NBC was also supporting the government’s financial inclusion agenda by placing banking and insurance services closer to the customers through its NBC Wakala network.
On his part, Mr Komanga said that the training came following positive response of the insurance services market in the country, despite the shortage of agents and insurance brokers in some parts of the country.
He added: “Despite the shortage of agents, last year the insurance market was able to collect insurance fees (Premiums) amounting to 1.1tn/-through the current number of insurance agents and brokers.
Following the success, we felt it was the right time to expand the scope of reaching our customers across the country through the NBC Wakala network spread all over the country.’
“So through this training we expect better results as the number of insurance agents is going to be bigger.”
Mr Komanga noted that the one-week training covered the Lake Zone regions of Mwanza, Shinyanga, Geita, Simiyu, Mara and Kagera while in the Northern Zone included Arusha and Kilimanjaro.
Speaking on the training, ACISP Executive Chairman, Mr Sosthenes Kewe said it was aimed at enabling the agents to obtain the minimum qualification that will further enable them to provide insurance services according to the criteria set by the Tanzania Insurance Authority (TIRA), adding: “After this training all the participants will have the opportunity to do a qualifying test and certificates will be given only to those who pass the exam.”
