MOBILE PHONE PAYMENTS FOR INSURANCE PREMIUMS LAUNCHED

Sanlam Life Insurance Chief Executive Officer, Khamis Suleiman (fourth left), and Maxcom Africa Plc Director General, Jameson Kasati , exchange partnership agreement documents in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday to enable easy payment of insurance premiums via mobile phones. Looking on are senior officials from Sanlam Life Insurance and Maxcom.

SANLAM Life Insurance have signed a joint venture agreement with Maxcom Africa to allow their customers make insurance payments through their mobile phones.

Speaking in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday, Sanlam Life Insurance Chief Executive Officer, Khamis Suleiman said that the joint venture will pave the way for insurance customers across the country to make their premium easily and efficiently.

“The Insurance law is very dynamic following the recent changes the law now allows customers to make contribution and other payments direct to the insurance firm without consulting any agent,” he said.

This move will eventually change the insurance industry as client allowed to make any payments through his or her fingertips...it’s a milestone for the industry as the number of mobile subscribers increase daily, he noted.

"The insurance law requires client to make any payments direct to the Insurance firm without an agency and we have found an easy way to enable our customers to make contributions through their mobile phones," Suleiman added.

He added that the new system of allowing customers to pay their insurance premium through their mobile phones aims at expanding the contributions but also strengthening collections capacity and assist customers to make their transactions inside and outside the country.

He added that the recent statistics have shown that almost 62 per cent of Tanzanians have access to mobile phones which is equivalent to 20 million people, but is only one hundred thousand out of it use mobile transactions to pay the insurance premium.

"So we have decided to collaborate with Maxcom so that we can ease lives of our customers by allowing them to use mobile phones for insurance payments," Suleiman added. He underscored that the available statistics show that in average mobile transactions in the country shoots approximately 1.4bn/- annually.

Suleiman added that it was important for them to penetrate in the market as its market share currently stands at 62 per cent in the insurance industry. Maxcom Africa, Director- General, Jameson Kasati explained that his company's is a vibrant technological firm stable and secure for insurance clients in the country to make their various payments and contribution on insurance at any given time.

"We have joined the Government Electronic Payment Gateway whereby the government, individuals and private companies can have the opportunity to make their payments through mobile phones in an effort to improve the payment system in the country," Kasati said.

He added that the launching of the service has come at a right time for Tanzanians to make their own mobile transactions on insurance premiums to several Maxcom agents across the country.

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