The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
There is a present threat of cyber-attacks going on and insurance firms hold sensitive data. How are you guarding against this?
We have a massive information technology infrastructure across the group designed to make sure that policy holder’s data is always protected from any risk like the one that recently gripped the UK and other parts of the world. Right from our head office in London, we are protected and we have a crack team to ensure that if the right patches are not already in place we put them in place. Besides, we keep our policy holder information siloed so we have no worries about that.
In Africa, so many currencies are losing value and international firms are entering these markets. Generally, how are you coping with the currency depreciation?
I am not an economist so I am not going to comment too much on monetary policy but our job is to offer our customers facilities to protect their families and save and invest for the future in a manner they see fit. That is the reason we introduced Prudollar. Some people are concerned about the inflationary impact on the value of their savings – they are always welcome to investigate how Prudollar can serve their needs. Other markets like Ghana where there are high inflationary tendencies, we have product elements which customers can request for inflation protection. So there are options like that and we always respond to customer needs.
What challenges do you face in this industry?
The biggest challenge is lack of awareness and we take it upon ourselves as a responsibility to build awareness. We have various campaigns where we target people to ensure they understand financial literacy. Insurance is a basic financial tool, once you explain it in a simple way, everyone will realise its need.
We have to explain the products in a way that makes tangible sense. One of the common misconceptions is that life insurance is about when people die. In the Prudential Edusave product, it doesn’t matter whether you die or not, if you survive the term of the policy, the same maturity benefits are paid to you. It is your money, we are saving and investing it as well as a service which is a protection.
Five years from now, where do you envision Prudential Uganda?
The place where any Ugandan considers his or her first choice when it comes to saving and protecting their families’ future. I am sure if we provide quality and become a household name in Uganda like we are elsewhere, we would have done a good job.
****
