“Today the threat is clear. The threat is the new entrants that are fintech and GAFA, Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon. These players have digital platforms that allow them to do insurance better than us. The challenge for us is to review our business model, around digital platforms, by putting the customer at the center of our operations and satisfying them”.
These few lines reflect the concern of Saliou Bakayoko, President of the Association of Insurance Companies of Côte d'Ivoire, ASACI, at the end of the panel on "the digitization of insurance services, what implications and challenges ? on November 13 in Abidjan. A panel organized on the occasion of the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Mutuelle d'Assurance des Taxis Compteurs of Abidjan, MATCA.
A recent study by FinAfrique Research reveals that as of October 31, 2019, out of 33 insurance companies operating on the Ivorian market, 24 have a website. 5 of them have a mobile application and 7 offer an online customer area. 12 of these companies are present on social networks and only 2, out of the 33, allow online subscription.
The consulting firm in banking, finance and insurance, notes that no company has yet digitized the entire insurance value chain, from underwriting to payment of claims, including customer management. And concludes, therefore, a low maturity in terms of digitalization of market insurance companies.
For the 33 insurance companies operating in Côte d'Ivoire, the message is unambiguous: adapt to digital or disappear. And to support his assertion, Saliou Bakayoko, also Managing Director of SUNU Assurance Côte d'Ivoire, cites well-known examples such as Uber, Blablacar and Airbnb.
“Uber is the largest taxi owner in the world without having a single taxi. Only it has a digital platform that connects the customer and the real taxi owner. The same goes for Blablacar and Airbnb, which are respectively the biggest carrier and hotelier in the world without however having a car and a hotel,” he says.
Beyond insurance, statistics show that with the advent of digital, 8 out of 10 companies have disappeared because they were not prepared. To avoid this fate for its members, the ASACI has signed an agreement with the Ivorian Society of Digital Intelligence, SIIN, to contribute to the development of digital insurance, through a platform which integrates new security conditions in particular the protection of personal data.
For Coulibaly Habib, Managing Director of SIIN, digitalization is an opportunity to be seized by the ASACI to increase the insurance penetration rate, estimated between 1 and 2%. Not without justifying his remarks.
“Apart from the mature countries in Europe and America, Kenya is a perfect illustration in Africa. Mobile payment was born there. Thanks to technological innovation, the country has become the third largest insurance center on the continent in terms of premium collection, after South Africa and Morocco, ahead of all 14 countries in the CIMA zone combined,” he argues.