NMB ventures into insurance services

Dar es Salaam. The insurance sub-sector got a boost after NMB Bank Plc joined Bancassurance, the selling of life assurance and other insurance products and services by banking institutions.

The bank has signed agreements with Sanlam Life, UAP, National Insurance Corporation (NIC), Jubilee, Zanzibar Insurance Corporation and Reliance under which the lender will act as point of sale and contact for the six insurance firms.

NMB Bank retail banking chief Filbert Mponzi said the lender has already trained over 200 of its staff on how to handle insurance products across the bank’s 224 branches countrywide.

“Our coming into Bancassurance business is a game changer.

It will move the insurance sector to the next level,” he said. NMB Bank say will make use of its business clubs, spread across regions of Tanzania to create awareness on the importance of insurance among its clients.

With over three million customers, the banking outfit - which held Sh6.5 trillion in assets as of December 31, 2019 – believes it has what it takes to take insurance services to new levels.

NMB senior manager for insurance, Mr Martin Massawe said: “With our presence in each and every district of Tanzania, our Bancassurance business will help spur the growth of the insurance sub-sector”.

The commissioner for insurance at Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authority (TIRA), Dr Mussa Juma said the Bancassurance was a tool to raise the contribution of the insurance sub-sector to Tanzania’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Currently, insurance contributes 0.7 percent to Tanzania’s GDP. “...but the goal was to raise it to three percent by 2023 and five per cent by 2024” said Dr Juma.

Tira wants 60 per cent of adult Tanzanians have access to insurance services by 2024.