06 Apr 2016

With education having taken centre stage in recent months and years in Botswana, Barclays Bank of Botswana has come up with a product that is aimed at helping customers and non-customers with their long term education plans for their children.

Speaking during a media engagement event, Head of Barclays Insurance Services Ms Modisankwe Mosinyi-Steady said the plan is aimed at parents and guardians who want to save towards the future investment of their children’s education and provide peace of mind for any eventualities.

“The media is awash with every day tragedies of retrenchments, deaths, fires and car accidents which in most cases happen when we least expect them to. We strive to reach a point where each of those needs can be answered by an insurance product at Barclays,” she said.

She indicated that the education product answers the need for educating the nation in an environment where costs are escalating and this product offers both savings (endowment) and risk aspects (funeral).

Mrs Mosinyi-Steady further said according to research, only 30 per cent of adults in Botswana have insurance, thus presenting Barclays Bank with an opportunity to find suitable products to offer the 70 per cent uninsured. 

“Further to the above research, it is also known that the 30 per cent insured adults in Botswana mostly hold funeral policies at 87 per cent and we see this as an opportunity to offer other products whose penetration is very low,” she said.

Speaking on the education plan, head of Business Development at Barclays Bank of Botswana Mr Ratanang Tsayang said the education plan is an endowment assurance policy that pays the pre-defined benefits on earlier death/disability of the policy holder and also at policy maturity.

“Parents’ wish for the best education for their children and this usually is about paying school fees that are more than what they can afford at any given time. The Barclays Education Plan is designed to meet the costs associated with school fees,” he said.

He indicated that once the term of the plan is reached, the policy holder or a nominated beneficiary will receive annual payments to use towards their education.

“If you pass away before you have paid all the agreed premiums, your nominated beneficiary will immediately get 10 per cent of the benefit amount and full benefit will be paid out at maturity as selected at application stage,” said Mr Tsayang, adding that the minimum sum assured is P10 000 and the maximum sum assured is P500 000.

Speaking on how one qualifies for the policy, Mr Tsayang said one has to be a citizen of Botswana, minimum age is 18 years and maximum is 60 years, one has to show proof of regular income, bank statement, proof of account and benefits projection tool.

For his part, consumer director at Barclays Bank of Botswana Mr Brighton Banda said the bank has joined the Botswana insurance market and is now a universal financial services provider.

“We believe that insurance should be central to every family’s financial planning and that is why Barclays will always strive to provide the people of Botswana with sound products and solutions,” he said.

He further said Barclays continues to make strides in the insurance space, especially with their funeral product, Kgomotso Funeral Plan, which is a strong indicator that their strategy is moving in the right direction. 

“It is with this in mind that Barclays will continue to innovate and evolve to meet our customer’s changing needs. We intend to be one of the leading Bancassurance entities in Botswana with our tailor-made solutions, and we need your help to educate Batswana,” he said. Ends