GN-RE, UG unveil Ghc150K research fund

The event took place at the UG Business School auditorium

GN-Reinsurance, a member of Groupe Nduom, in collaboration with the University of Ghana (UG), has unveiled one-hundred and fifty-thousand Ghana cedis (GhC150,000.00) Pension and Insurance Research Fund to support pension and insurance related research.

The colourful ceremony, which took place yesterday at the auditorium of UG Business School, was on the theme: “Pensions and Insurance Policies, Regulations and Practice, the Missing Link,” brought together academia, researchers, sector players and students.

Addressing the gathering, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GN Reinsurance, Mr Joseph Kusi-Tieku, explained the need to fund research activities in the areas of pension and insurance.

According to him, issues such as payments of appropriate premium for the risk cover that take care of a person taking the risk when the cover is matured were very critical areas that needed to be researched into.

“Mr Chairman, I’m happy to announce that the initial capital of GhC150,000.00 would be increased in the coming years,” Mr Kusi-Tieku assured.

He, therefore, called on corporate organisations to partner academic and research institutions to undertake research in the critical sectors of the Ghanaian economy to address the numerous challenges that were faced by the country.

Earlier, President of Groupe Nduom, Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, called on pension fund managers and the pension authority to use pension funds to support local banks. He was of the view that Ghana’s national pension funds were not helping the growth of local economy. Dr Nduom, therefore, called on the National Pensions Regulatory Authority and other regulatory authorities to re-examine the use of pension funds, which, he noted, could be the solution to the struggling local banks.

For his part, Vice-Chancellor of UG, Professor Ebenezer Oduro-Owusu, appealed to other insurance practitioners to collaborate with the academia to bridge the gap between the two entities.

According to him, the surest way to discover the missing link between academia and the corporate world was to promote research in the pension and insurance.