At a time when the African continent is redefining the contours of its insurance industry, one conviction is clear: the sector’s takeoff will no longer be determined solely by penetration rates or technical portfolios, but by the speed at which a policyholder is compensated and the ability of companies to speak the language of mobile phones. Invited to the Financial Afrik platform in Cotonou (Benin) as part of the General States of Insurance for All, Saliou Bakayoko, former president of the Association of Insurance Companies of Ivory Coast (ASA-CI) and board member, shares the perspective of a veteran on over three decades of changes, focused on strategic governance, customer trust, and digitalization.
The first observation made by this veteran of African markets is that the industry has undergone a structural transformation over three decades like no other. “The first major change that comes to mind is the implementation of the CIMA Code in 1995. It was a decisive turning point,” he recalls. Before this date, each country in the region applied its own legislation, in a fragmented landscape. The creation of a single code — “something extraordinary and unique in this world,” he insists — reshuffled the deck.
Two major effects can be attributed to this reform. First, the mandatory separation of Life and Non-Life activities, which allowed the life branch, long marginal, to now be “practically on par with non-life insurance.” Secondly, the emergence of true pan-African groups, where the market was historically dominated by subsidiaries of foreign companies. “Thanks to this Code, we have moved from a market where we only had foreign companies to the development of pan-African insurance groups that are the pride of our markets,” highlights the former president of ASA-CI.
Beyond this “battle,” Saliou Bakayoko identifies a much more intimate challenge for the sector: regaining the trust of the policyholder. And this trust, according to him, hinges on one key point: the speed of claims settlement. “As long as a policyholder takes months, or even years, to be compensated, insurance will never develop as we wish,” he warns.
The former president of ASA-CI delivers an almost programmatic conviction on this subject: drastically reducing the compensation delays, ideally to 48 hours. “Imagine that as soon as there is an accident, within 48 hours, you are compensated: everyone will come to take out insurance. The day we achieve this, insurance will take off.” A statement that resonates as a rallying cry for a profession still too often perceived in Africa as quick to collect premiums and slow to honor its commitments.
Another strategic challenge: digitalization. On this front, Saliou Bakayoko speaks as a pioneer. His company was “one of the first companies in the CIMA zone to launch subscription via mobile phone in Ivory Coast,” as early as 2010. For over a decade, this innovation unfolded without a dedicated legal framework. It took until 2024 for a community regulation to finally regulate digital micro-risk in the CIMA zone.
This time lag — fourteen years between on-the-ground innovation and regulatory recognition — illustrates, according to him, the right relationship to maintain with regulators. “You can’t crown someone in their absence,” he summarizes with this metaphor. In other words: when a company explores an innovation that is not yet regulated, it must go to the regulator, present the project, and co-construct the framework. “We are fortunate to have regulators who are not rigid,” he praises.
This digital revolution is not an end in itself: it is the vehicle for a broader ambition, that of inclusive insurance. For Saliou Bakayoko, the future of the sector lies in the ability to capture, via mobile, a population still largely excluded from formal insurance channels — informal economy workers, artisans, rural dwellers, members of village associations, and rotating savings and credit associations.
This is precisely what gives full meaning to the recent Pan-African Pact for Inclusive Insurance, signed under the impetus of FANAF (Federation of African National Insurance Companies). For Saliou Bakayoko, this text marks a step, but not the culmination: “The pact we have just signed is already a path, half of the path. The other half remains to be done regarding implementation.”
The stakes are clearly identified: channeling a portion of the savings currently held in rotating savings and credit associations, village funds, and traditional solidarity mechanisms into the formal insurance circuit. A considerable resource that will only be captured by offering simple, mobile products that can be quickly mobilized in the event of a claim.
Thirty years after the implementation of the CIMA Code, the message conveyed by Saliou Bakayoko resonates as a passing of the torch. The generation that built the current market architecture is now passing the baton to the one that will have to democratize access. Between institutional heritage and digital revolution, the insurance of the CIMA zone stands at the crossroads of a new cycle; one where trust, more than constraint, will be the true entry premium.
