The pension fund, one of the elements of the Angolan insurance sector, is an autonomous asset allocated to the implementation of one or more health benefit plans.
According to the Minister of Finance, Vera Daves de Sousa, despite all the negative impacts and challenges associated with the insurance sector between 2019 and 2022, it "was able to reinvent itself and maintain a growing trajectory during this period".
"Gross premiums issued grew at an annual average of 22 percent, overall 32 percent, the sector's accident rate maintained its downward trend with 32 percent in 2022", said the government official at the opening of the "Insurance" conference, in Luanda.
Contributions to pension funds grew by 144 percent in the period, while the value of pension funds grew by around 100 percent, that is, it more than doubled, from 409 billion kwanzas to 835 billion of kwanzas in 2022, she said.
Speaking at the conference organized by Ernst & Young (EY) Angola, in partnership with the Angolan Insurance Regulation and Supervision Agency (ARSEG), where the main results of the sector between 2019 and 2022 were presented, the minister also highlighted the reforms and legislative framework for the sector.
She considered that the sector's legislative framework "also helped to create a new dynamic in the way of accessing and carrying out insurance activities" and ARSEG, in its action to reinforce supervisory mechanisms, sought to increasingly align itself with best practices.
"In some cases, taking difficult but necessary measures to reinforce the solidity, reputation and security of policyholders in the institutions with which they interact, such as strengthening supervision, their collection mechanisms and others", she highlighted.
The government official defended that the action of insurance companies is essential so that policyholders can actually count on them, at this time of technological innovation, blue economy, for the timely settlement of their claims when they happen".
"We are aware that the processes are not always going well, the paperwork is often not correct, the assumptions have not been met, but what we must all take care of is to avoid going down the path of avoiding paying for insurance regularization", she noted.
For Vera Daves de Sousa, an environment of suspicion and mistrust regarding the effectiveness and practical usefulness of insurance does not contribute to an increase in the insurance penetration rate in Angola, which in 2022 remained below 1 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
"We must do everything possible to achieve a more ambitious insurance penetration rate, which in our opinion will only be achieved if we invest heavily in financial literacy, innovation, and the offer of increasingly inclusive products", she defended.
The need for continuous assimilation and implementation of good corporate governance practices, with the aim of promoting greater solidity, professionalism, reputation, reliability and credibility of insurance companies operating in Angola were also highlighted by the minister.
On the other hand, she also encouraged ARSEG to "continue to be" an active agent in the field of literacy: "Promoting itself or encouraging operators to have a literacy agenda so that we contribute to increasing insurance penetration and making potential policyholders of insurance on de facto policyholders".
"To invest in the effective supervision of mandatory insurance, and ARSEG has a fundamental role in this, mapping, regulation as well as training the entities responsible for monitoring them in aspects linked to the insurance technique as well as raising awareness", concluded the government official.
