Category: Insurance

By Omobola Tolu-Kusimo

AXA Mansard Health Limited is set to donate N100 million worth of life insurance cover for 100 medical professionals across Lagos, Abuja and Ibadan.

It has donated personal protective  equipment (PPE) worth millions of naira to the Lagos State Government, University College Hospital, Ibadan (UCH) and Nigeria Centre for Disease Control at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).  The PPE included splash resistant suits and coveralls, 95 masks and goggles.

This is to show its commitment towards eradicating  COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

AXA Mansard Health Limited Chief Executive Officer,  Mr Tope Adeniyi, saluted the sacrifices and professionalism of courageous medical care services personnel, who are putting themselves on the line by caring for the infected people and helping curb the spread of this virus.

He said: “We commend the deliberate efforts made by the doctors and other healthcare workers in Nigeria and around the world to combat the outbreak and curtail its spread.

We share the view that the world needs to come together to provide a stronger support for these men and women who have chosen to risk their lives to serve their countries.

Read Also: AXA Mansard, REACH Technologies partner

“Through this donation and commitment, AXA Mansard has meaningfully responded to the rising need for medical supplies at healthcare facilities in Lagos and Oyo states and FCT, three of the major hubs designated to fight the disease, ensuring swift responses are given to COVID-19 or any other health related cases.”

The Chief Operating Officer, AXA Mansard Insurance Plc, Mr Kunle Ahmed, noted that it would require efforts at individual and corporate levels, spearheaded by key leaders in the society to defeat this outbreak.

“As a responsible member of the society, AXA is extremely responsive to the situation and we will continue to lend our voice by sensitising the public through the media even as we also throw our weight strongly behind the government in the fight against the epidemic.’’

Provost, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Prof Oluwabunmi Olapade-Olaopa, said: “This intervention by AXA Mansard is very timely and addresses the core of what is needed at this time to keep the fight going and enable care for the sick and research on the disease.

We are extremely grateful to AXA Mansard for its impactful support and its commitment towards better healthcare in Nigeria.”

By Omobola Tolu-Kusimo

There are indications that the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) may extend the deadline for the recapitalisation of insurance and reinsurance companies for the second time, The Nation has learnt.

The Commission is concerned about the negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the  exercise.

While the extension may bring  relief for some of the companies who may not be able to meet the December 31, others who have tidied up their books and are ready to meet the deadline may find it upsetting.

The commission had earlier extended the initial deadline for recapitalisation, which began from May 31, 2019 to end by July 31, this year to December 31. This followed pressure put on the commission by stakeholders and the operators that the time was too short.

In a circular to insurance operators titled: “Effect of Covid-19 on Insurance Operations”, Acting Commissioner, NAICOM, Mr. Sunday Thomas, referred to a previous circular where it conveyed some decisions taken to ameliorate the negative impact of the outbreak of coronavirus on the  sector.

He stated that the Commission  will soon let the operators know the position that will be taken on the recapitalisation.

He said: “Following our further review of the development in the  economy and the world over, we are concerned about the effect of COVID-19 on the ongoing recapitalisation by insurers and reinsurers. While the immediate negative impact of the COVID-19 is obvious, the scope and time it will last in Nigeria is uncertain.

Read Also: COVID-19: NAICOM issues forebearance to ensure availability of services

“While the commission encourages all operators to put in their best in the given circumstances, the outcome of its consideration to ameliorate the negative effect will be communicated as soon as it is considered expedient.”

He, however, highlighted how the commission will operate during the lockdown in the country.

“On business continuity plans, the commission has put in place the necessary plans to enable us promptly attend to the operators’ request during this challenging period. We will continue to give attention to Applications for Approval-in-Principle (AIP), LOA, and no objection to place risk abroad etc. would continue to be given necessary attention during this period.

“While we hope for a quick recovery from the partial shutdown of economic activities, we urge the operators to put in place appropriate business continuity plans to meet the needs of insurance policyholders while the commission is readily available to assist where the need arises,’ he added.’

He assured the operators that their interest is the commission’s utmost concern. He enjoined them to abide by the preventive measures against the virus.

By Bola Adegbaju

Just as the insurance industries across the world have contributed to curbing the spread of corona virus in their respective nations, the Nigerian insurance industry is not left out from doing same to her Nation as the players have come together under the Nigerian Insurers Association, NIA which is the umbrella body of insurance and reinsurance companies in Nigeria, to provide free life cover for health personnel up to the tune of N1m per person. They have as well donated N100m worth of testing kits and protective materials.

As disclosed by the NIA chairman, Mr. Tope Smart, the life cover provides N1m for the dependants of the life assured in case of death and N1m in case of permanent disability. The life assured must be at the frontline attending to corona virus victims.

He also said that the association will liaise with the ministry of health, Nigeria centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and state governments for detailed information of the personnel.

It is also commendable to note the contributions of some individual companies who have single handedly sponsored same project aside the general efforts.

According to the circular released by National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) on the 1st April 2020, the commission has put up business continuity measures to ensure availability of insurance services and protections of policyholders.

“The following regulatory forbearance are hereby granted:

a)Where Approval-In-Principle for the preceding insurance period had been granted, all renewals or extensions of the foreign reinsurance proportions that become due during COVID-19 movement restriction are permitted for renewal on existing basis.

1. b) Where Approval-In-Principle for the foreign proportion of a new insurance placement is required during the COVID-19 movement restriction, it shall be treated on the basis of “Use and File” subject to prior exhaustion of in-country capacity. For the avoidance of doubt, after utilizing available local capacity, the lead insurer is permitted to reinsure the excess of the risk offshore and submit relevant documentations to the Commission thereafter.
2. c) All Post Placement Reports, Reinsurance Treaties and other related special risk foreign reinsurance documentations due for submission during the pendency of the COVID-19 restrictions are to be submitted when movement restrictions are lifted.

Finally, the Nigerian Insurance Industry hereby join the Federal Republic of Nigeria in reminding the public that, in addition to the existing rules of washing hands with soap and water/sanitisers, using nose mask if infected/treating infected person, sneezing or coughing into the elbow, disinfecting environment, and reporting any suspected cases, there is a need to also:

• Stay calm
• Take other precautions as the needs arise
• Have a flexible work plan for employees.
• Consider your neighbour’s safety

By Omobola Tolu-Kusimo

With a $10 million equity in-vestment by a German firm in Royal Exchange General Insurance Company Limited (REGIC), a subsidiary of Royal Exchange Plc, the group, has registered its presence as a key global financial investment in Africa and a strong player in the emerging climate change insurance market for agriculture in Nigeria, the Managing Director, Mr. Benjamin Agili, has said.

Agili, who spoke during a media parley in Lagos, said the investor, InsuResilience Investment Fund (IIF) of the German Development Bank (KfW), is boosting agriculture on the continent.

He stated that climate change or weather risks like flood, droughts, among others, remain one of the  perils plaguing small-holder farmers.

He said 85 per cent of the farming population comprises  these vulnerable small holder farmer groups. It, therefore, he said, became imperative for Royal Exchange to use insurance to promote business and community resilience to the agricultural sector and rural finance ecosystem to avert the scourge of food shortages, food security issues, unemployment and host of other associated perils, that can affect the wider economy from the impact of not insuring agricultural production against climate change perils over the long term.

He said it was their early foray into the agricultural insurance space and impressive works on the development, distribution and sales of climate risk protection products for small-holder farmers under the auspices of its index-based agricultural insurance solutions that attracted interests from the Kfw to the company.

He said: “The IIF investment, being of social impact nature, comes with the trappings of technical assistance facilities to aid the company in scaling up her agribusiness risk portfolio alongside driving a social impact mandate of providing insurance inclusion to a minimum of one million small-holder farmers by the 2025. Our key social performance parameters include adoption and coverage of index insurance among identified farming population practising rain-fed agriculture in Nigeria as their primary means of livelihood against the perils of climate change and by extension provision of protection of their household.

“In-house, we are channelling the facility towards growing expertise and core competences in climate-change insurance products design, marketing and distribution, education and awareness generation, training and capacity building, as well as sales support in delivering on our expected financial and social objectives. As mentioned earlier, the support makes provision for trainings of external stakeholders as well and we intend using these tools to champion education and advocacy on effective uses and benefits of Index-Based Agricultural Insurance solutions for tackling climate change in the agricultural upstream (i.e. crop or livestock farming), especially in areas of de-risking agribusinesses and unlocking flows of finance and investments to same industry.

On the benefits open to businness organisations through their cooperation, he said: “Leveraging  the relationship established with the IIF, we opened our doors for business in 2019 with lofty expectations; courting a host of recognised farmer cooperatives, agro-centric financial institutions and agribusiness aggregators working with small-holder farmers with a sales objective of offering our agricultural insurance cover to protect their rain-fed agricultural production risks. We were soon to discover that the warm reception received from potential clients came with a great degree of scepticism as many still struggled with the tilt towards patronising private insurers to underwrite their agribusinesses.”

He further stated that the company also realised a disconnect between their level of awareness and understanding of efforts being made by the government and the apex regulator, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), in licensing private insurers to underwrite agricultural risks and equally approving use of index insurance products for agriculture in Nigeria.

He noted that their reaction, nonetheless, is regarded as quite normal taking into consideration that only just recently the entire agricultural insurance market space was underwritten by the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation. However, I dare say the landscape is evolving!

“A good level of market sensitisation is continually been done by NAICOM, in collaboration with the Nigerian Incentive Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) and the Federal government under her various intervention schemes, such as the Anchor Borrowers’Programme in spreading the message to the market about a level playing field being created to allow for private insurance participation in the underwriting of agriculture as a measure to not only drive healthy competition in the market, but also create an environment that nurtures product innovations to match growing demands for insurance inclusion to a largely underserved and unserved farmer population.

“We also witnessed several policy pronouncements in the course of the year in the areas of the land border closure by the Federal Government and the directives by the Central Bank of Nigeria instructing deposit money banks to comply with a Loan-Deposit ratio of 65 per cent; invariably pushing lenders to borrow to players in the real sectors of the economy of which the agriculture is one.’’

The Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has forced the world into a partial lockdown, some total, courtesy of a stay-at-home order by many governments. OMOBOLA TOLU-KUSIMO writes that also you need insurance at home.

As governments across the world, including the Federal Government, continue to find a solution to the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, they have adopted a stay-at-home order to contain the spread.

As a result, many businesses in public and private sectors have partially shut down in obedience to the government’s policy to ensure the safety of lives and properties.

But while businesses are shutting down, insurance, like essential services, has not. In fact, the operators said insurance is needed now more than ever.

The Nigeria Insurers Association (NIA) urged Nigerians to continue to embrace insurance even as they stay home to remain safe.

Its Director-General Mrs. Yetunde Ilori said: “While we encourage members of the public to observe all precautionary measures, including observing the requisite social distancing and working from home, they are reminded of the need to stay safe and also stay insured all the time.

“Members of the public should minimise physical visits and transact their insurance businesses, including claims processing by using the various alternative channels provided by member companies.

“For the purchase of Third Party Motor Insurance, they can visit the association’s online platform for purchase of third party motor vehicle insurance on https://www.niip.ng or call telephone no: 0817-078-4444 as it presents the unique experience of convenience of purchase from the comfort of their homes.”

On the importance of insurance, she said one of the most important issues to remember is insurance.

“Many people do not take the necessary precautions to insure themselves, and it could end up costing them a substantial amount of money. You need several types of insurance if you want to live a comfortably.

“It doesn’t matter whether you are at home or not. It does not matter whether you are not driving. You need insurance for your life, home and other things that are of value to you. You need to ensure that your home is insured. So, there is no time that insurance is not needed.

“Insurance allows you to transfer financial risks from yourself to an insurance company. The insurance companies prepare for this risk because they charge premiums to their customers and keep a large amount of money in reserve. When a customer files a claim, the insurance company pays. This allows you to focus on other things instead of worrying about possible losses,” she added.

She said the association commends Federal and Lagos State governments for their efforts in containing the spread of the virus.

“This is also the time for member companies to activate their business continuity strategies to ensure quality service delivery, despite the disruption being experienced.  The health and general well-being of the nation – families, partners, clients, consultants, staff and other stakeholders including our immediate community remain the major concern of the Insurance industry at this critical time,” she added.