Category: Insurance

Our Reporter

 

SUNU Assurances Nigeria Plc has increased its profit by 30 per cent.

It went up from N914 million in the 2018 financial year to N1.189 billion in 2019. This is due to decrease in net claims  by 24 per cent from N.868 billion in 2018 to N.658 billion in 2019.

The Group increased its Gross Written Premium (GWP) by 0.4 per cent  from N3.049 billion in 2018 to N3.060 billion in 2019.

This, according to the company, was due to its teams’ hardwork, despite declining to underwrite some class of businesses because of regulatory pronouncements.

Also, the company’s investment income grew from N519.57 million in 2018 to N719.52 million.

The company showed paid claims worth N657.9million in the year under review.

Its Chairman, Kyari Abba Bukar, who made this known at the physical/virtual 33rd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company, said its Audited Financial Statements and and that of its subsidiaries for the year ended December 31, 2019 were approved by National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) via its letter dated March 9, 2020 within the deadline.

He stated that despite the challenges facing the company, ranging from the bonds debt with its attendant huge finance cost, NAICOM’s previous penalty on offshore transactions, which has a yearly payment of N86.6 million till 2021, they were able to achieve a modest result in 2019 financial year.

He said: “During the year, we were able to increase significantly our processes through improved operating efficiency, optimising our current assets and improving operating efficiency which is part of our strategy. We also sought to create further value by developing the opportunities embedded in our existing operations which present the most attractive options for growth. We are always looking beyond our current operations for sustainable growth opportunities.

“Going forward, we shall strive to operate our business with a sharp focus on efficiency, transparency and sustainable cost improvements,” he added. Shareholders lauded the Board and management for doing well.

Executive Chairman, GF Investment Group, Mr. Ralph Osayameh who represented a shareholder, Dr. Adelani Oniwinde, said the management had done well, especially in investment.

Another shareholder, Mr Mathew Akinlade said he was impressed with the level of disclosure which is more than what the Code of Corporate Governance requires, noting that other companies should share this as a model.

 

After years of bickering between the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) and the National Pension Commission (PenCom) on regulation of life annuity business, both agencies seem to have found a common ground. Omobola Tolu-Kusimo reports 

 

For more than 10 years, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) and the National Pension Commission (PenCom)  struggled to find a common ground for the operation of life annuity business.

A conflicting regulation between the duo caused various challenges of compliance.

It came to a head in 2017, when both government agencies headed by the former Commissioner for Insurance, Mohammed Kari and Director-General, PenCom, Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu bickered, leading to the intervention of the former Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who called a truce between them, although there was no headway. This also led the two regulators to issue a circular on the administration of life annuity for pensioners in March 2017.

But the two agencies seem to have reach an agreement under the heads of the two agencies, Mr Sunday Thomas of NAICOM and Mrs Aisha Dahir-Umar of PenCom, as The Nation learnt that they would soon sign sign a guideline for annuity business.

While the bickering lasted between the insurance and pension industry, the consumers of the product and the operators suffered. The operators of the two industries had also been accusing each other of demarketing.

As provided for by the Pension Reform Act 2014, the modalities for payment of retirement benefits are through life annuity, which is obtainable from life insurance companies or through programme withdrawal, which is obtainable from Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs). Either of the two methods is available depending on the retiree.

The Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Sunday Thomas confirmed to The Nation that the two had reached an agreement and would soon sign the guidelines for the two industries.

He said: “On our part, we have been able to identify all the areas where the industry has been de-marketed and we are working on them. we will sign the annuity guideline PenCom very soon. It has been pending since 2017 but we are happy that everything will go well going forward.

“I have been very concerned as to why insurance companies are limited in annuity business. The annuity business looks like it is slowing down but it will soon be one of profit driving business for the insurance industry.”

Former Chairman, AIICO Insurance, Dele Fajemirokun, at an event on insurance and pension, called on the regulators to tone down on the guidelines meant to supervise the sectors.

He said for insurance and pension industries to move forward, there was the need for bureaucracy to be eliminated and reduction in rules, to those that favours opportunities to generate funds.

“There is need to avoid complexity in regulation with a focus on judgment-led regulation instead of rules-based regulation. Over the years, the political desire to regulate an industry tended to ebb and flow in response to the opposing pressures of public disquiet about the industry problems and the industry’s concerns over-interference in the way it carries out its activities.

“The regulated firms in insurance and pensions say they do not object in principle to being regulated, but there are frequent and vociferous complaints from them, and indeed from the public, about how regulation is being applied in practice, either it is too strict or not strict enough depending on their perspective. The basic question that should be asked is: ‘How effective is regulation in achieving its purpose, which is creating and maintaining the effective and efficient insurance and pension market.’ ”

He further said there should be   transparency, fairness, while addressing issues like bureaucracy, pull me down syndrome prevalent in the third world, complexity, over prescriptive, which led to compliance fatigue.

The immediate past Director-General, Lagos State Pension Commission, (LASPEC), Folashade Onanuga, called on Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) and life insurers to work together to build a virile industry rather than fighting in a bid to retain market dominance.

Mrs Onanuga said the competition between the two operators must be healthy to build confidence in Pension Reform Act (PRA).

“The competition between the two operators must be healthy, otherwise, the ultimate consumer will lose confidence in the transparency which the PRA advocated, as human thinking will suggest that the infighting to gain upper market share, between the two operators means that the product being sold is more to the benefit of the operators than the ultimate consumer.

While marketing annuity or programmed withdrawal products, Mrs Onanuga said PFAs should understand that they don’t have a monopoly, but should rather they should work with annuity service providers to boost the pension industry.

By Omobola Tolu-Kusimo

With as little as N3000, you can buy a foreign travel insurance policy, the Executive Director, Law Union and Rock Insurance Plc, Mr. Supo Sogelola has said.

He made this known at a  public sensitisation on the company’s LUR Travel Insurance in Lagos.

He said with the ban on local air travels removed, and international flights expected to be lifted soon, Nigerians should embrace the policy to reduce the risks of intrenational travels.

He said the company’s LUR Travel Insurance for local travel policy is  as low as N500 and N1500 per year with benefit of N1million.

He said: “Our travel insurance policy is designed to reduce the risk of unexpected event during international travels resulting to medical expenses and hospitalisation abroad, emergency medical evacuation, emergency dental care, repatriation of mortal remains, repatriation of family member travelling with the insured, emergency return home following death of a close relative, travel of one, immediate family member and lot more.

“We have a partnership with reliable and experienced reinsurer –Mapfre Asistencia, a global company in travel insurance. We are A- credit paying ability with stable outlook, strong financial stability; seamless service delivery through our ICT infrastructure; and timely response in case of eventuality/loss with empathy. The requirement for travel insurance include Number of beneficiaries; Destination geographical zone; Age/date of birth of the insured; Period of cover; copy of passport data page; copy of flight booking; traveller phone & email; and next of kin phone and email. In the event of a loss, an insured person can be compensated through cheque or bank transfers

“For our local travel insurance policy, we have our customer care contact for the insured to contact us and we will attend to him/her. For worldwide travel insurance policy, we have international contact numbers of our partners who will respond to their claim notification immediately. Our claim process will commence and claim payment depend on the response of the customer. We don’t delay in obligation.

“Some benefits of LUR Travel Insurance include Loss of Baggage including personal effects like clothes and devices. Change of flight coverage medical up to $50,000 per person while repatriation of death remains draws a complete cover. All these benefits come at a very affordable price, starting from N3500 per person.”

He explained further that the policy is available for a family of four on an international trip at just N22, 000. For one person, it’s about N7000.

READ ALSO: Allianz partners GIDN on insurance solutions

Sogelola added: “As we speak, not many people are involved in travel insurance but it is so important that you cannot over emphasise it. You can have annual policy or trip policy which can be two weeks or for how long you want to be in a country you are travelling to. Most people don’t think about unexpected events, but when it happens it is usually a very difficult and a bad one. If you are setting your foot on a plane to go out of the country, you should have insurance.

‘’In one of the cases that we have witnessed, one of our customers travelled with his wife and two children for a three weeks’ vacation to the United States and five days after they got there, his daughter developed temperature and they thought it was a simple thing. Before they knew it, she was moved to the Intensive Care Unit. Before they knew it, she had spent five days in the hospital and the bill came down to $32000 which was over N11 million as at that time. Fortunately for him, he had LUR Travel Insurance policy in place and the money was fully paid.’’

 

 

By Omobola Tolu-Kusimo

The Federal Government has paid this year’s Group Life Insurance for its workers, the President, Nigerian Council of Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) Mrs. Bola Onigbogi has said, in Lagos.

Mrs. Onigbogi, represented by the Vice President of the Council, Mr. Tunde Oguntade, urged the Federal Government to engage registered insurance brokers to mitigate the risk of contract failures.

She stated that until the government engaged insurance brokers, it would continue to record failure of contracts.

She noted that the relationship between the Council, the National Insurance Commission, as well as the National Assembly had inched up significantly.

She said: “The 2020 Group Life is off the schedule because full premium has been paid on the account for the current year, there’s no lapse in cover at the moment unlike before.

“What we are doing, on our part, is to sensitise ministers through our liaison committee and leadership that the contract failure you have all over the federation would not happen if you have insurance and brokers arranging them for you. Contract failures are sometimes premeditated and we hope government will use insurance to correct the anomaly.”

She further said the Council was invited to make a presentation on the public procurement Act, qualifying her as one of such institutions to be invited.

She said: “The relationship with NAICOM has definitely been buoyed by the supportive roles and favourable disposition of the new team of NAICOM, under the dynamic leadership of Mr. Sunday Thomas as Commissioner for Insurance.

“In a positive response to brokers on the COVID-19 relief, the Commission granted administrative palliative to brokers concerning the extension of dates for submission of their returns to the Commission in view of the COVID-19 challenges.”

Stating that brokers were ready to square up to future challenges, she said: “It is definitely not lost on the Council and its members that the business world as well as insurance business and profession would never be the same again, little thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to this, the Council under the present leadership is more than prepared to help members navigate any foreseeable or unforeseeable challenges by improving their knowledge power.’’

 

By Omobola Tolu-Kusimo

 

 

Organisations should implement prevention, detection and responsive measures against cyber attacks and fraud, experts have warned.

The experts believe that if organisations implement the right cybersecurity measures, they would function with confidence.

The experts spoke at a webinar by Leadway Assurance Company Limited to x-ray the rising cyber-risks in businesses, as well as the various ways to mitigate the threats and attacks.

The event, moderated by Liz Booth of Commercial Risk Africa,  featured the Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Inuwa Kashifu Abdullahi; Partner, Technology Advisory Services, KPMG Nigeria, John Anyanwu; IT-security expert, Africa and the Middle East, Munich Re, Tariq Fadai; Head, Cyber Risks and Technical lines, Chubb Eurasia and Africa, Gilbert Flepp; and Executive Director, General Insurance, Leadway Assurance Company Limited, Adetola Adegbayi.

Anyawu said: “Since the start of the pandemic, there have been increased dependency on the internet and mobile apps, and more reliance on digital channels.

“This has brought about a noticeable increase in cyber-attacks globally, and it has posed potential risks to businesses.”

Fadai gave insight into how cyber attackers operated, recommending defence mechanisms organisations could adopt.

He further said organisations with poor security hygiene need to change, noting that with the pandemic forcing corporates to deploy remote-work conditions and routines, systems have moved to cloud services with an increasing reliance on third party services.

“There is a risk of unavailability of services due to overcrowding, just as several organisations might experience data loss as well. Every business owner should understand and make good use of important cyber-attack controls,” he added.

Corroborating Fadai emphasised the need for organisations to institute maintenance of cyber-security protocol, endpoint detection and response tactics like implementing robust anti-Malware control and learning how to administer a disaster recovery plan.

Abdullahi expressed concerns over the increase in cyber-attacks on businesses and individuals.

“Never before has cyber threats been the way it is today. As the world is recovering, cyber-criminals are taking advantage of the pandemic to mask their activities.

It is important that we learn how to keep information safe, how to back up, how to secure email getaway regularly and to make sure everyone is vigilant, web-responsible and aware of emerging threats and use technology to prevent them from causing havoc,” he noted.

Adegbayi urged organisations to prioritise cyber-risk insurance as part of risk mitigation system against a cyber-attack, especially when business operations are hinged on remote accesses.

“The shrewdness of the company’s management over the years has informed several innovations that would soothe any impending crisis in businesses and individual lives.

Cyber-risk insurance policies have been robustly re-engineered for organisations and individuals in the face of rising cyber-attacks and fraud on businesses,” she said.

Adegbayi said the Leadway cyber-risks insurance policy was being optimised to provide first-party coverage and third-party liability risk covers on cyber-perils for organisations, while the individual policy coverage would soon be introduced into the market once approved by the National Insurance Commission.

 

By Omobola Tolu-Kusimo

 

Anchor Insurance Company Limited has donated 150 cartons of facemasks, 30 cartons of hand gloves and 45 cartons of hand sanitisers to the Akwa Ibom State Government, in support of the fight against COVID-19 pandemic in the state.

Chairman of the company, Dr Elijah Akpan, who led the company’s delegation, presented the items to the state government at the Government House, Uyo.

Akpan lauded Governor Udom Emmanuel for the investment in the health sector and praised the COVID-19 Management Committee headed by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Emmanuel Ekuwem, in curtailing the spread of the deadly virus in Akwa Ibom.

Akpan, who is also the Chairman of Akwa Ibom Investment Corporation (AKICORP), said the donation was one of the company’s ways of reciprocating the benevolence of the state government to the company.

According to him, “Anchor Insurance Company is 60 per cent owned by the Akwa Ibom State Government with over 70 per cent of its workforce being indigenes of the state.

Receiving the items on behalf of the state government, Ekuwem thanked the company for the kind gesture.

By Omobola Tolu-Kusimo

 

SOME insurance professionals have continued to destroy the image of the industry, a challenge that has made the business to remain low, the Commissioner for Insurance, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Mr. Sunday Olorundare Thomas, has said.

The commissioner stated this during the investiture of Mr. Muftau Oyegunle as the 50th President of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) at Civic Centre, Ozumba Mbadiwe, Victoria Island, Lagos State.

He said the institute has a major role to play in reshaping the ethical behaviour of members.

He maintained that the CIIN remains the most unifying body that binds them and as such, the position of president of the institute is one of the most revered in insurance.

He said: “As the custodian of our values and entrencher of ethical behaviour in the practice, a herculean task certainly awaits the president of the institute at any particular time not to mention such a challenging time as we are experiencing.

Now more than ever before the institute must embrace technology as one of its key drivers for development. The institute should be prepared to digitalise its processes, procedures and systems to make its operations seamless and real time…

Let us be aware that the advent of the prevailing COVID-19 has presented a new challenge to the insurance sector. Thus, a paradigm shift from the usual way of practice has become inevitable.

“What this means in essence is that insurance practitioners must learn to inculcate the new world order brought about by the COVID-19 experience.

This has become an imperative rather than an option. Suffice it to say that critical times require critical measures.

The challenges before the institute during and post-COVID-19 are enormous; how you do your marketing for new members, how you run your seminars, where and how you conduct your examinations for prospective members will be affected by the prevailing circumstance.

“I, therefore, urge the new leadership to take these challenges into serious consideration in developing new curriculum for the institute.

As a professional institute, your communication and engagement with your stakeholders cannot be encumbered by disruption to physical interactions.

I want to challenge the new leadership of the institute to make this a priority in its agenda. Of course, training and deliberate exposure of members of the institute to new technology would also go a long way in reshaping their perspectives.”

The CIIN chief, in his acceptance speech, said the theme of his tenure is, “Reinforcing professionalism and ethics in the new order,’’noting that the choice of the theme is borne out of the need to establish a rolling plan, which would guarantee that even in the face of global uncertainties, the institute will continue to meet the needs of members.

“It is against this background that we are going to explore the potential of this approach by focusing on a six-point agenda being Digital Transformation of the institute; Reinforcement of the Relevance of Professionalism; Re-energising the institute’s Administrative Structure; insurance Awareness and Youth Mentorship Initiatives; Infrastructural Development; and Advocacy and Collaboration with various associations in the private sector.

“I am aware of the challenges this office places on me, especially when the world is being ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are not unaware of the drastic disruptions of the socioeconomic order in the world. However, I am driven by our traditional collective efforts, which is built on our strong resolve to see that the vision of our founding fathers shall not be in vain.

Although we are at the mercy of COVID-19 pandemic, we cannot surrender to it. As an institute, we shall continue in our stride to achieve desired results. However, we must adapt our strategies and change our ways of doing things.

“I have come at a time we need to change our strategies to the new normal. Our reactions to these disruptions will determine our position today and in the future.

These disruptions are here and it has come with new challenges that call for the reinforcement of our professional calling. Current development in the world calls for our collaborative efforts to reinforce professionalism.

The economy in general and the insurance industry is not immune from the vagaries of the social and economic disruptions caused by the pandemic.

The resultant harsh business environment has become a threat which we must collectively confront for survival.

“The theme of my presidency is, therefore, borne out of the conviction that we can achieve greater successes for our industry and profession if we reinforce professionalism and ethics in reaction to the new order.

However, I deem it proper to highlight our plan in the area of digital transformation. Efforts have been made by past presidents to transform operations at the institute.

The fallout of the pandemic has made it imperative to build on past efforts to remain relevant. The programme will be pursued to create new operation process and work culture at the secretariat. This will be with a view to create a new customer experience.

This programme will be pursued to lay the required base for the continued relevance of the secretariat in the new order. This is what we need to do to change our customers experiences, operational processes and business model.

 

 Omobola Tolu-Kusimo

 

ALLIANZ Nigeria Insurance Plc has announced its partnership with Get It Done Now Limited (GIDN), developers of the GIDN Platform.

The Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer, Allianz, Walter Bossman, in a statement, said the aim of the GIDN platform is to connect customers with verified service providers.

She explained that Allianz Nigeria on the other hand will provide insurance products to registered customers and service providers on the platform.

Through this deal, we contribute our own quota to a stable and viable economy by providing bespoke insurance products to mitigate business risks of the registered service providers, she said.

Co-founder of GIDN Alberto Rodriguez added: “We are indeed excited to partner with Allianz Nigeria. This partnership aligns with our goal of providing a safe and secure platform for users and providers to transact. We also believe that adding Insurance services from Allianz to our platform is a great way to build trust among customers while adding credibility to the small business owners”.

Head Technology of the company, Benjamin Ooye said: “For us at Allianz Nigeria Insurance Plc, digital transformation has moved from being a vague and futuristic concept to an immediate term action. Our partners are empowered through a digital distribution channel which provides an easy way and wastes no time on platform integration.

“In view of the new normal imposed by COVID – 19 and the strategic vision of Allianz to secure the future of its stakeholders, this initiative also integrates Application Programming Interface of both companies. This allows customers, service providers and the general public regardless of location to buy insurance solutions with their mobile phones.’’