The Nation Newspaper

Category: Insurance

  • Okunoren is NCRIB’s president

    he Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) has a new president. He is Emmanuel Okunoren.

    The investiture of Okunoren, who is the  as the 18th President of the Council, is billed for October 15, this year at the Federal Palace Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

    Other members of the Council, who will run its affairs for the next two years, are Shola Tinubu   (Deputy President) while Bola Onigbogi is Vice President.

    An holder of the Fellowship of the Chartered Insurance Institute of London and Nigeria, Okunoren has robust experience on the Council on the NCRIB having served on strategic committees on Oil and Gas/Local Content, Joint Technical Committees, among others.

    Okunoren was also an honorary treasurer; auditor; vice president and now deputy president.

    Prior to the investiture, the Council will hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) and National Insurance Conference during which, the paper titled: ‘Revisiting corporate governance dynamics’, will be delivered by Mr. Hakeem Ogunniran, Managing Director of UAC Property Company, while Mr. Lucas Dada, director, Enterprise Segments, Etisalat Nigeria, will deliver the sub-theme paper, titled: “Digital delivery as growth driver in insurance retail marketing”

    The Commissioner for Insurance, Alhaji Mohammed Kari, will be the Special Guest of Honour. Other dignitaries expected at the event include Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajumobi; and his Ogun State counterpart, Mr. Ibikunle Amosun.

  • Woes persist as Obamacare enters third year

    Just a few weeks before the third Obamacare enrolment season begins, researchers are pointing out that millions of people are still uninsured, despite the law, and that there are real hurdles to convincing people to sign up.

    The first two enrolment seasons made a sizable dent in the U.S. uninsured population, as about 17 million Americans have gained coverage through the Affordable Care Act’s various provisions, the Department of Health and Human Services estimated this week.

    But of the millions left who are still uninsured, many haven’t tried to buy Obamacare coverage at all even though they might be eligible for subsidies to help pay for it. Those who do visit the insurance marketplaces often find it difficult to compare plans.

    And just about everyone buying plans faces a steep rise in deductibles, making it harder to afford the care they need throughout the year.

    Fewer than half of the Americans who visited healthcare.gov or state-run marketplaces last year actually enrolled in coverage, a Commonwealth Fund survey released Friday found. The survey also found that a majority of those who decided against enrolling said they couldn’t find a plan they could afford, even though 54 percent had incomes making them qualified for federal assistance.

    “I think there is a lot of confusion both in terms of people who haven’t gone to the marketplaces at all, and once they do get there, choosing plans that are affordable for them,” said Sara Collins, Commonwealth’s vice president for healthcare coverage.

    One of Obamacare’s major goals was to provide affordable coverage to those without employer-sponsored plans, and the law supplies federal subsidies to those earning up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level. The subsidies help lower the consumer’s cost, much as employer contributions help lower costs for their workers.

    Besides uneducated consumers, there is the problem of skyrocketing deductibles, ailing both plans offered in the marketplaces and plans offered by employers.

    A survey released earlier this week by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that while premiums are growing at a relatively modest rate, about four percent a year, deductibles have risen almost three times as fast since 2010 for employer-sponsored plans. And one in four covered workers are enrolled in high-deductible plans, compared to 13 percent five years ago.

    “Health costs are growing faster than the economy and they’re growing faster than workers’ paychecks,” said Joel White, president of the Council for Affordable Health Coverage. “What we’re looking at in 10 years is where the average family is going to spend half of their income on health coverage. It’s clearly not sustainable.”

    The problem is of even greater magnitude among Obamacare marketplace plans, where many consumers say they bought a high-deductible plan. The Commonwealth survey found that 34 percent of Americans with employer-sponsored plans have deductibles of at least $1,000, while 43 percent of those who bought coverage in the marketplaces at deductibles at least that high.

    There’s no consensus on exactly how to rein in the fast growth in deductibles, although Republicans insist that removing the healthcare law’s coverage requirements could improve the situation. But many experts feel that some of the obstacles to getting coverage could be removed simply by easing the shopping experience.

    Many consumers say it’s difficult to impossible to compare the benefits and costs of different plans offered by their employers or available in the marketplaces. State exchanges could help them understand different plans by providing estimates of how a particular shopper might use a plan based on their healthcare needs, Commonwealth Fund President David Blumenthal suggested.

    Such a feature wouldn’t be exact, but it would go a long way toward helping people narrow down the plan options to the ones that would best suit their particular situation, he said.

    “These estimation calculations could be disease-specific,” Blumenthal said. “They could give you a sense of what your cost is based on a specific profile. I fully expect these will take shape in subsequent iterations of the exchanges.”

    • Culled from Washington Examiner
  • Better days ahead, say insurance chiefs

    Better days ahead, say insurance chiefs

    Stakeholders in the insurance industry met in Ogun State last week. Omobola Tolu-Kusimo, who was at the forum, reports that despite the challenges, they see a bright future in the industry.

    THE industry has recorded a year-on-year turnover of 18.4 per cent and17.4 per cent compounded average growth (CAGR) between 2007 and 2013.

    Its total assets have hit N711.4 billion from about N347.1billion in 2007, indicating an increase of 104 per cent.

    This notwithstanding, the industry remains largely underpenetrated with insurance density at 0.225 per cent considering industry premium of $1.5 billion in comparison to other African countries, these were some of the highlights of the performnace of the industry.

    But industry chiefs said the gap was as a result of low penetration. Group Managing Director, Custodian and Allied Insurance Plc, Wole Oshin, in a presentation at an insurance forum in Ogun State titled: “Opportunities and returns in the Nigerian business environment”, said regulatory changes in the industry, including No premium, No cover, International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) adoption, enforcement of Market Development Restructuring Initiative (MDRI), among others, have led to growth in the industry.

    He however said the challenges, which include the negative perception of the industry, still persist.

    According to him, information technology is still below par and wide data gathering and document management is poor.

    He said this affected proper product pricing and development, adding that the industry is highly fragmented and competitive, thereby affecting the pace of growth in overall market size.

    He identified other challenges such as enforcement of compulsory insurances, scarcity of human capital in certain specialised areas like actuaries and rise in fraudulent claims.

    Oshin said the life business contributes 25 per cent and growing with a potential to surpass the general business in 10years.

    He said: “A shift in focus to retail business would largely unlock hitherto uninsured risks through product channels, such as mobile phones and retail outlets. The bottom of the pyramid and low income mass market hold a huge potential for the industry, albeit in the medium to long term e.g. agricultural insurance.

    “A regulatory environment that is favourably disposed to change and growth and a closer collaboration between government and the industry will help the industry.

    “The industry performance is impressive. The gross premium income growing from N100 billion in 2007 to N302 billion at the end of 2014, an increase of over 200 per cent. The Insurance sector is dominated by the general insurance sector. This trend is however changing rapidly.”

    Oshin said the recent happenings in the industry are pointers to a reinvigorated and competitive industry which includes:

    He said favourable economic performance, recent policies and government support through various legislations and the repositioning among industry players to harness the huge market potentials through mergers  and acquisitions is vital to further growth in the industry.

    He however cautioned, saying that the economy had been slow and might be sliding to a recession which could affect insurance business across board.

    The sector is going through a process of change and recovery, however with recent developments in the economy, the companies that will stand tall are those who are savvy enough to navigate through the predicted downturn in the economy.

    Group Managing Director, Cornerstone Insurance Plc, Ganiyu Musa, who spoke on critical success factors for market expansion and penetration strategies, said operators should maintain price discipline to deal with rate-cutting issues.

    He said there was also greater collaboration between underwriters and brokers, adding that operators should be self-regulated.”There is need for alignment of innovative products with the customers’real needs, increase micro-insurance penetration in new segments, such as agriculture, introduce Takaful insurance to rural parts of the country to further deepen insurance penetration.

    “We must fully exploit the opportunities offered by the banking distribution platforms, use of technology to improve products distribution and leverage on the 126 million active lines to boost insurance penetration.

    “There must be greater collaboration between operators and regulator to expand the market, enforcement of the six classes of compulsory insurance through collaboration with other relevant stakeholders and improved tax environment for operators and policyholders.”

    Musa noted that if all of these are done, N1 trillion is achievable by operators in three years.

    He said, according to EFInA (2014), 14.3 million adults would like to have insurance products.

    He said market discipline, public awareness on products and claims settlement is very crucial.

  • Standard Alliance shareholders set to approve N2.2b ordinary shares

    The Board of Standard Alliance Insurance Plc is set to okay the sale of the Treasury Shares amounting to 2, 212, 046, 824 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at 25 kobo per share by way of Special Placement to identified Strategic Investor, Gemrock Management Company Limited.

    A statement signed by the company’s Head of Corporate Communications, Mr. Nelson Egboboh, explained that this would be done at the organisation’s 19th Annual General Meeting (AGM) scheduled for Wednesday, next week in Lagos.

    He said at the meeting, the company’s owners would ratify the appointment of  the new Group Managing Director/CEO and directors.

    He noted that the AGM was coming a bit earlier than others held in the last three years because of the efforts of the new management, noting that it was the desire of the new team to return the company to its first quarter meeting timetable it was known. He said the shareholders would be expected to receive and adopt the audited financial statements and auditor’s report and audit committee’s report for the year ended December 31, 2014.

    He said: “The company has called its shareholders’ attention to the unclaimed share certificates and dividend warrants which were returned by the post office as “unclaimed,” informing that they were with its registrars.

    “Some dividend warrants sent to shareholders’ registered addresses or their bankers are yet to be presented for payment or returned to its Registrars of the company for re-validation, advising that affected members should contact First Registrars”, he said.

  • UK employer pension contributions down by 48%

    UNIKED Kingdom (UK) fears have been raised that employers are slashing the amount they pay into workers’ pensions in an attempt to save money, after official figures revealed a near-50% collapse in contribution rates in 12 months.

    The Guardian reported that the average amount being paid into private-sector defined contribution (also known as money purchase) workplace pension schemes plummeted to 4.7% of a worker’s salary in 2014, when a year earlier it stood at 9.1%, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

    The figure of 4.7% is made up of a typical employee contribution of 1.8% of eligible pay, plus a contribution from their company of 2.9%.

    A reduction in the average contribution rate had been viewed by many as an inevitable side-effect of the government’s “auto-enrolment” regime, which is currently being rolled out and requires all employers to put eligible workers into a pension scheme.

    Under auto-enrolment, in order to ease workers into the new system, the total minimum contribution into their workplace pension has started at just 2% of earnings before rising to 5% in October 2017 and then 8% in October 2018.

    The ONS said an increase in the number of new members starting on the minimum rates would clearly pull down the average figure, but the scale of the reduction – a 48% fall in 12 months – is likely to alarm some observers.

    The ONS said: “The fall in employer contributions may also be due to employers reducing contributions into existing pensions, referred to as ‘levelling down’.”

    The ONS acknowledgement that a levelling down of existing schemes may be taking place is significant, because during the runup to the introduction of auto-enrolment, there were warnings from many experts that companies might decide to offset the costs of enrolling new staff by cutting their contributions into existing workers’ pensions.

    As far back as 2010, the National Association of Pension Funds was warning there was “a risk … that many employers level down their provision to the minimum to contain their pension costs as membership increases”.

    That same year, Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, was quoted as saying: “If some [employers] level down, they will only confirm negative perceptions of pensions.”

    Tom McPhail, head of pensions research and investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown, said the fall in average contributions “looks worrying,” but added that membership of private-sector defined contribution workplace pension schemes had shot up from 1.2 million to 3.2 million over the period.

    “The vast majority of these new members will have been enrolled at the minimum statutory contribution rate of 2% of earnings. This means the decline in the average is probably attributable to the diluting effect of these new members, rather than a cutting of contributions for existing scheme members,” McPhail said.

    “Nevertheless, it is vital that contributions increase above the 8% minimum they will reach in 2018. For comparison, the average contribution to defined benefit schemes is 20.9%.”

    Meanwhile, the ONS said the contribution rate figures “are estimates which should be interpreted with caution.”

  • SLOT, IGI introduce smartphone screens’ cover

    Slot Systems Limited  and Industrial and General Insurance Plc (IGI) have introduced a cover that allows customers to insure their phone screen against damage.

    Speaking on the policy, a representative of Slot, Jane Smith, said a customer could get a new phone if  it is insured.

    According to her, the new policy is aimed at creating awareness about insurance to phone users and saving owners the stress of getting a new phone or wasting money to repair the phone screens.

    She explained that the screen insurance ensures the cost of replacing any damaged phone screen that has been insured would be handled by the insurance company adding that phone users can only insure a newly purchased phone and not an old mobile phone.

    She said new phones worth N18,500 and above were qualified for the cover, adding that premium is N500.

    ‘’We urge customers to take advantage of the insurance policy which provides cover and compensation in the cause of any damage to the screen of their phones,’’ she said.

  • Inspenonline unveils new portal

    Inspenonline, an  insurance and pension online news, has unveiled a new portal.

    In a statement, its Managing Director, Chuks Okonta, said the portal was designed to enhance public knowledge on pension, insurance and related matters.

    He maintained that in its three years, the organisation has helped to deepen insurance and pension awareness through indepth news reportage, analysis, interviews and the yearly insurance and pension awards, which has helped to showcase companies and individuals that are making giant strides.

    Okonta, who was recently nominated for an honorary doctor degree by Commonwealth University in the United Kingdom, for his contributions to business, said the organisation would continue to promote the sector and its relevance to humanity.

    He stressed that the portal could be accessed via www.Inspenonline.com.

    He called on the public to embrace insurance, adding that it remains the best way to mitigate risks, adding that insurance exists for the survival of businesses and better lifestyle for humans.

    While commending the successes  in the sector, he called on the government to enforce laws that will promote the new pension scheme, and employers to secure their employees’ future by embracing the scheme.

  • ARIAN inaugurates chapter

    ARIAN inaugurates chapter

    The Association of Registered Insurance Agents of Nigeria (ARIAN) has inaugurated a new chapter in Owerri, the Imo State capital, its President, Gbadebo Olameru has said.

    According to him, the new chapter will enable the national secretariat to conduct the needed assessment to address some of its strategies towards the deepening of insurance.

    Olameru said the association had also identified developmental strategies to take records of  registered agents.

    The chapter was tasked to consolidate and develop the agency network in Imo State and work with all stake holders to eradicate fake insurance and create working relationship with the state government by increasing internally generated revenue of the state and reduce the rate of unemployment by developing agency network initiative across the state.

    He said: “It is our vision to see a strong and vibrant association with unlimited capacity to support the agency practitioner and improve the well-being of a successful insurance agent. It will also reduce fake agents around the country.

    “This establishment is also in line with NAICOM’s Market Development and Restructuring Initiative (MDRI).”

    He said the new excutive members of the chapter are: Chairman, Okereafor Chinedu; Vice Chairman, Ezeigbo Bush; and Secretary, Anunusor Sandra.

    Olamerun said he was determined to expand the insurance agency networks, hence the initiative to do a nationwide sensitisation.

    He further said the association was planning its yearly conference and annual general meeting for November.

  • SA boss, Akinboye returns to NIA Council

    The Group Managing Director of Standard Alliance Insurance Plc, Bode Akinboye, has been joined the Governing Council of the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA).

    In a letter by the association to  Akinboye, the Governing Council noted that he was expected to add value to the body.

    The Council added that the decision to co-opt him was also in line with the provision of article 6 (1) (d) of the association’s constitution.

    Akinboye, who assumed office as the Group Managing Director (GMD) of Standard Alliance in JanuarY after leading Gemrock Management Company Limited to acquire strategic stakes in the company, is returning to the association, having earlier served on the Governing Council as the treasurer for four years before he in 2009 to set up a firm.

    Since his return as an investor,  he has initiated various fresh ways of doing underwriting through his company, culminating in his co-option as a member of the association’s highest organ where his transformational contributions are being expected.

    Akinboye believes that insurance  can be done with integrity. This belief is already yielding results in his underwriting firm which returned 104 per cent profit after tax rise in its half year result as at the end of June.

  • Fed Govt to criminalise vices by operators 

    Fed Govt to criminalise vices by operators 

    Henceforth, vices among practitioners will be treated as criminal offences, Commissioner for Insurance, Mohammed Kari, has said.

    He spoke at the ongoing Insurance Professionals forum with the theme, “The Nigerian business environment, implications for insurance industry’’, in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

    He claimed most of the actions of  professionals are criminal. “The challenges of huge competence deficit, corruption, low level of innovation, over-dependence on the oil sector leaves all asunder to phantom the best soluble buyouts and how to harness the opportunities inherent therein.

    “In consequence of the effect of uncontrollable changes in the macroeconomic environments affecting our businesses, organisations and entities either passively or negatively, we are therefore implored to map-out adaptive strategies and identify the opportunities inherent in the ‘change’. As far as innovation is concerned, we need to improve the content and quality of our services. In addition to our quest for innovation, changes in companies’ business model must be exploited. The earlier we realised that the music has changed and thus the need to adjust our dancing steps, the better for us all, ‘’ he said.

    Kari continued: “We have seen unbridled, unsustainable and technical unsound rates being offered by supposedly insurance professionals more out of the need to meet a target than to properly underwrite. Professional brokers’ takes business from contraptions called ‘sub-agents’ who by the way are not registered by anyone. Premiums are loaded, discounted, retained or returned with impunity market indiscipline among practitioners, boards and management conflicts may degenerate to threatening the stability of some of our companies. The implication of such practices on the insurance industry in this new Nigerian business environment is the gradual diminution of our professional relevance as a veritable shield for the financial sector of the economy. We must all have zero tolerance for these unethical practices and vices. Most of the actions of our professionals are actually criminal.”

    Kari stressed that the industry would no longer sit on the sidelines and allow opportunities to pass by.

    He charged professionals to correct themselves than be corrected by external forces.

    In her address, the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) President Lady Isioma Chukwuma said the survival of the industry was non-negotiable.

    She said it was their collective drive to reposition the industry and to reinforce the integrity of the profession.

    “This can only be achieved by our individual and collective commitments to the ideals of ethical and professional best practices.

    “We are charting a new course aimed at consolidating the recent gains of the industry for national economic growth. It is pertinent to reiterate that this agenda is what I have set for my tenure as the 47th President of the institute. It will be driven by means of an articulated action-plan geared at reinforcing the identified projects and ensuring their logical conclusion. This approach will also engender a rolling plan for the growth and development of our institute,, she said.