The Nation Newspaper

Category: Insurance

  • STI offers rights issue of N4.17bn

    The Management of Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc is offering Rights Issue of N4.17 billion ordinary shares of 0.50k each at 0.50k per share on the basis of one new ordinary share for every two ordinary shares of 0.50k each held as at the close of register on Tuesday, January 15, 2019 to existing shareholders on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

    A statement signed by the Managing Director, Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc, Mr. Olaotan Soyinka urged all shareholders of the company to take advantage of the unique opportunity by maximally taking up their rights in the rights issue with a view to increasing their stake in the company and as well grow their wealth in the very near future as the company is poised to moving on to the next phase of its growth stage.

    According to him, the management has set a growth agenda which is aimed at positioning the underwriting firm as one of the top five in the insurance industry in Nigeria.

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    He appealed to shareholders of the company that a very robust capital base is critical to the success of the set agenda; hence the need to call on shareholders to fully exercise their rights by subscribing fully to the rights issue and ultimately grow their investments in the company.

    He said: “We are working assiduously towards being one of the most preferred insurance companies in the country for people to do business with, invest in as well as be the choice employer of Labour.

    “Judging by the results of the performance of the company in the last financial year in 2018, it leaves no one in doubt that the company is set for the path of profitability. The company recorded a Gross Premium Written of N10.5billion representing a 23 per cent increase in 2018 over the N8.5 billion recorded in 2017.

  • WAICA re-grows authorised share capital to $100m

    WAICA Reinsurance Plc (WAICA ) has an authorised share capital of $100 million with paid-up share capital amounting to approximately $50 million currently under its management, the Managing Director, Mr. Bola Ekundayo, has said.

    Ekundayo, who spoke with reporters in South Africa, said the ownership of the paid-up share capital is distributed amongst WAICA members, other institutions and individual investors.

    WAICA Re was established as a reinsurance organisation to help mitigate the effects of the lack of reinsurance capacity within the West African insurance industry.

    He however, said the company has repositioned and strengthened its business across all the regions of Africa where its businesses are located and all the regions of Africa

    He stated that the company has also provided both Treaty and Facultative Re-insurance to the African market and beyond.

    He said: “The company is assisting insurance companies in training and retraining of their staff in the area of terrorism and agriculture insurance that is not being taken seriously in some parts of the region.

    “We are also training insurance companies in special risk areas such as oil and gas in order to improve their knowledge”.

    Speaking on its performance for 2018, he said that business has been good and their premium income has grown.

    “Our premium income is growing, because last year we made profits and we  are going to pay dividend to our shareholders. We have been consistent in paying dividend for the past four years and sometimes we issue bonuses in order to increase the capital base of the company which has made us to be one of the biggest reinsurance companies in Africa when it comes to capitalisation.

    “We have paid a lot of claims in Nigeria and Ghana. We also suffered some major losses even in some French speaking countries but despite that, our premium has been growing as we had expected.”

  • Linkage assures of prompt claims payment 

    Underwriting firm, Linkage Assurance Plc, has assured its broker partners and potential customers of the company’s commitment to prompt settlement of claims, customer satisfaction and efficient service delivery.

    Linkage Assurance Plc Managing Director/CEO, Daniel Braie gave the assurance during the Members Evening of the Abuja Area Council of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) held in the nation’s capital.

    He said the members evening hosting is part of the underwriter’s nationwide fraternisation tour to its broker partners.

    He also said that the company plans to go round the area committees in all the geo-political zones where NCRIB is established, having started off with the Lagos national body before now.

    Braie in his remark, thanked the insurance brokers for their partnership and support to the company, stating that their contribution has enabled the company attain its current level of growth.

    The Linkage CEO noted that the company which paid out an excess of N2.71 billion on claims in 2018 has continued to meet customers’ expectations, despite the challenging business environment.

  • Mutual Benefit’s underwriting income hits N13.9b

    Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc. has recorded a net underwriting income of N13.9 billion for the year ended December 31, 2018, representing a 19 per cent increase from the N11.77 billion recorded in 2017 for the Group.

    According to the result of its audited account released on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the company’s gross premium written grew by 13 per cent from N14.03 billion in 2017 to N15.84 billion in the year under review. Net premium income stood at   N13.47 billion representing an 18 per cent increase from N11.46 billion in 2017, profit after income tax stood at N1.149 billion; a 12 per cent increase from 2017 figure of N1.02 billion.

    The 70 per cent percent increase in claims paid over the 2017 figures impacted the company’s underwriting profit which dipped by 17 per cent to N3.05 billion.

    The company paid claims amounting to N3 billion in the period under review. Motor claims were the highest, amounting to N1.10 billion, followed by Fire which was N664 million, General Accident N330 million while Aviation risks attracted N441.90 million. Claims paid on other classes of business include Engineering N166 million; Oil and Gas risks N108.90 million and Marine N241.60 million.

    The firm’s Managing Director Segun Omosehin said the claims paid shows their commitment to meeting our obligations to our esteemed customers.

  • Allianz offers free car checks

    Allianz Nigeria Insurance Plc is offering free car checks under its CARdiology Initiative.

    The company is offering the first 2000 car owners to register with them free diagnostic checks at select standard garages across Lagos State.

    The  firm said the initiative, which is open to  Lagos residents, will help deepen insurance penetration.

    The firm’s Executive Director, Mr Owolabi Salami, spoke at a briefing  on the launch of the initiative in Lagos.

    He disclosed that the package would include diagnoses of the transmission, exhaust system, brakes, throttles, fuel injector system, airflow, coolant, ignition coils as well as performance issues.

    He said there are about 4.5 million cars on the Nigeria Insurance Industry Database (NIID), of which 75 per cent have third party motor policies and the others comprehensive policies.

    He said the market size of motor insurance in the country is N44 billion, with about seven million cars either uninsured or have fake insurance.

    He said from Allianz’s research,  fewer than 25,000 brand new cars were being imported yearly.

    He said: “Based on this, we realised  that to grow our revenue, deepen penetration and bring the Allianz brand closer to the market that doesn’t really know us, we need to come up with very strong prepositions that will expose the brand to many Nigerians. We aim to be the insurer of choice by providing real tangible benefits for everyday Nigerians beyond the borders of commerce. As a responsible corporate citizen, we are duty-bound to think of ways to give back to our host community. We are determined to follow through with similar initiatives that bring real and immediate value to the people of our host communities.

    CARdiology, he said, is about looking at the heart of vehicles to ensure safety on the road and that  the initiative serves as a premium growth initiative for motor insurance.

    “We have a number of designated garages that car owners will go for the vehicle check. We will be on radio to encourage people to say if you need a free car health check, simply text SMS ‘CARdiology’ to a particular short code. We will select about 2000 beneficiaries of this programme and we will give them the free health check.

    “We believe that this will work for us because everything is about data. If you want to do retail effectively, you need data. So, if we can generate like 150,000 car owners providing us with their data and if we achieve a 10 per cent penetration rate, we would have successfully signed off additional 15,000 motor policies, thereby deepening insurance penetration.

    ‘’Also, if one million car owners respond to our campaign, it would be 150,000 car policies; we are then bringing Allianz into many homes.

    “For too long, we have asked as operators, why is it that insurance companies don’t own banks? I believe that if insurance companies do not have one million, two million or three million policies, with each policy holder paying on the average N50,000 to N100,000 every year to insurance, we would never own banks because we will never generate the funds,” he added.

  • Law Union pays N1.6b claims

    Law Union and Rock Insurance Plc’s net benefit and claims increased by 117 per cent, to N1.6 billion at the end of 2018 financial period, its Chairman, Mr. Remi Babalola has said.

    In 2017, it was N0.737 billion.

    Speaking at the company’s 50th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos, he said the company was pleased to be one of the top claim-paying insurance firms in the country.

    Babalola, however, said the company’s profit before tax fell by 55.4 per cent to N0.490 billion from N1.099 billion made in 2017.

    He stated that in furtherance of its commitment to enrich its shareholders, he said the board of directors recommended a cash dividend of two kobo per share for the 2018 financial year.

    He added that the company’s gross premium written rose slightly by 6.79 per cent from N4.252billion achieved in 2017 to N4.541billion.

    Underwriting profit, according to him, however, dropped significantly by 46.05 per cent to N0.638billion from N1.182billion posted in the preceding year, he added.

    He said the company had remained unrelenting in sustaining high corporate and ethical governance standards in its business, noting that the board had been at the forefront of ensuring total compliance with every directive from the National Insurance Commission.

    He further disclosed the company’s management went through a significant overhaul with the appointment of Mr Ademayowa Adeduro as the new Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer,” he said.

    Speaking on the future outlook of the company, Adeduro said while they anticipate an improved operating economy, their strategic initiatives for 2019 include to begin sales in AutoReg-Courtville franchise that bundles our auto insurance with vehicles licence renewal.

  • How to reposition insurance, by Access Bank MD

    Recapitalisation, strategic alliances and partnerships and deepening insurance penetration are areas that should be taken into consideration to grow the insurance sector, the Managing Director, Access Bank Plc, Herbert Wigwe has said.

    Wigwe gave the advice at the just-concluded National Insurance Conference organised by the Insurance Industry Consultative Council (IICC) in Abuja where he wsa guest speaker.

    He spoke on the theme ‘Disruption, innovation and business growth’ .

    He said the sector needs  recapitalisation to enable its pratitioners to underwrite transactions in sectors, such as the oil and gas, marine, aviation and technology.

    He recalled that on May 21, this year, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) raised the minimum capital for the industry by over 200 per cent.

    He said while this would go a long way in repositioning the sector in terms of product offerings and customer experience, the sector must be big enough to provide cover for huge exposures.

    On strategic alliances and partnerships, he said with the advent of innovation, traditional insurance firms must partner upcoming insurtechs to explore its technological and growth opportunities  and give customers better and more innovative product offerings.

    He said: “Claim verification processes must also be reviewed to foster trust. Partnership with the banks for viable Bancassurance opportunities is also a formidable route to growth.

    “Similarly, for insurance companies to deepen penetration, they should make more use of the new media and ‘digital’ to deepen insurance at the retail segment of the market. Furthermore, the need for the implementation of a robust compulsory insurance policy cannot be overemphasised.

    “Today, businesses and economies compete in a networked world in which the key to competitive advantage is no longer the sum of all efficiencies, but the sum of all connections. Strategy, therefore, must be focused on widening and deepening linkages to access ecosystems of technology, talent and information. Today’s decision-makers must let go of the traditional linear thinking of change and think strategically about the forces of disruption and innovation shaping our future. Innovation is our new reality.”

    Buttressing his point, he noted that in 2016, the insurance industry generated approximately US$58.4 billion in Gross Premium Income (GPI) despite a low penetration rate of 0.45 per cent, Kenya 2.7 per cent and South Africa 16.99 per cent.

    “With only one per cent of Nigerians holding an insurance policy, there is clearly an untapped opportunity in the country. It appears the insurance sector has started experiencing disruptions as Insurtech start-ups leverage technology to take advantage of the opportunities in the sector to gain market share and pursue growth.

    “In 2014, AutoGenius, which was launched by Venia Technologies allows users to buy auto insurance online, working with traditional insurance companies to shape user experience. Similarly, CompareIN, which was launched in 2015 allows users compare and buy an insurance policy online. Also, cassava allows individuals make small weekly and monthly insurance subscription payments via debit card or USSD,” he added.

  • Autopsy: Cause of Nigerian insurance director’s death in South Africa unnatural

    Indications have emerged that the Nigerian insurance director and mother, Mrs. Uju Ndubuisi Chukwu, who died during a Pan African conference in South Africa was killed in her hotel room at Emperor Palace Hotel, Johannesburg.

    This is coming following the autopsy report released by the Director-General of the Department of Health, Republic of South Africa, which stated that Mrs. Chukwu, a Deputy Director General of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) died of “Unnatural Cause Consistent with Strangulation”. This lays to rest the initial belief that she died in her sleep overnight.

    Unnatural death is a category used by coroners or medical examiners and vital statistics specialists for classifying all human deaths not properly describable as death by natural causes. Hence, it would include events such as accident, drug overdose, attack by an animal, mob killing, execution, homicide, medical error, misadventure, State-sponsored mass murder, suicide and war.

    Meanwhile, the report from South African authorities has thrown the insurance industry in the country and across the continent into confusion as the abridged death certificate provided by the South African authorities was silent on the type of unnatural cause that killed Mrs. Chukwu.

    Most alarming to the insurance fraternity is the fact that the South African authorities have also said that CCTV footage provided by the hotel management to the police showed no one entered the deceased’s room despite the autopsy report that her death was unnatural.

    In a private chat with The Nation, the Executive Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said the Consular General in South Africa, Mr. Godwin Adama, is working with police authorities to unravel the cause of death.

    She disclosed that an officer from the mission has been detailed to handle the case, along with South Africa Police, and the deceased’s brother is also with the team in South Africa.

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    She said Adama has assured that everything will be done to get to the root of the mysterious death.

    She said: “We condole with the family of the deceased and assure that everything practically possible will be done to unravel what led to the tragic incident.

    “We are trying to reach out to the family members so that we can pay a condolence visit to them”.

    The CIIN President, Mr. Eddie Efekoha, also in an interview with the newspaper said he cannot say it is true or not that Mrs. Chukwu was killed because he has not seen any document to support it, other than the report by the South African authorities that simply states unnatural cause.

    He said Mrs. Chukwu was full of life at the conference and they need the authorities to explain to them what killed the woman.

    He said the institute has written to the African Insurance Organisation (AIO), the Institute of Insurance of South Africa (IISA) and the Nigeria Consular, South Africa that we have an abridged report which states unnatural death but we need more answers. IISA has written back to us to say they are unable to make any headway.

    “The family also has a major role to play because they are to get information from the authorities. We wanted to leave her corpse in South Africa to enable us get to the root of the matter but the family said they want to bury her. As an institute, we are interested in unraveling the cause of her death and we will pursue to a logical conclusion”, he added.

  • ‘Operators ‘ll support NAICOM on recapitalisation’

    With the wind of recapitalization blowing in the insurance industry, operators will support the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to grow the sector, the Chairman of the Insurance Industry Consultative Council (IICC), Mr. Eddie Efekoha, has said.

    Efekoha, who is also the Chairman, Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) and Managing Director, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc, spoke at the 2019 IICC Media Retreat in Ijebu Ode over the weekend.

    While applauding NAICOM for setting a new pace of recapitalization in the financial sector, he assured that operators will not go against the regulator because the consequences are too grievous.

    He said shareholders seem not happy with the recapitalization requirement, but there is a limit at which operators can control other stakeholders like the shareholders and investors.

    He said that while they cannot stop them from speaking their minds, whatever they have said do not represent the operators’/managers’ decision.

    He said:“The wind of recapitalization is blowing. We recently heard that Ghana insurance industry has commenced recapitalization and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) just last week also came up with its own plan. I think the NAICOM should be commended for setting the pace.

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    “I can assure you that as operators, we will not go against our regulator because the consequences of that are too grievous. However, there is a limit to which operators can control other stakeholders like the shareholders and investors. We cannot stop them from speaking their minds, but whatever they have said do not represent the operators’/managers’ decision.

    “The reasons NAICOM gave for the recapitalization exercise are the same reasons CBN is giving which are the issues of exchange rate and capacity. If these are the main reasons for the recapitalization exercise, the truth of the matter is that the exchange rate that applied in 2005 to 2007 is not the same in 2018 and 2019. Secondly, if the exchange rate has changed, our ability to retain businesses has weakened. Should we enhance it? The answer is yes.”

    In the same vein, the president, Institute of Loss Adjuster of Nigeria (ILAN), Alhaji Femi Hassan, said ILAN is excited about the recapitalization to take place.

    “We are eagerly waiting for it to take place, because it will enable the operators to put some structures in place that will help to grow the industry. I know the operators want this recapitalisation to take place, but the investors who have put their money into the insurance companies are the ones kicking against it, but nevertheless, I am optimistic that in the long run, every party will see reason”, he added.

  • Insurance business volume hits N400b in 2018

    The insurance industry has recorded 10 per cent increase in volume of business from N363 billion in 2017 to N400 billion in 2018, Chairman, Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA), Mr. Tope Smart has said.

    He spoke at the association’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

    He stated that operators paid about N160.5 billion claims, higher than the N142.83 billion paid in 2017.

    Out of the N160.5 billion paid in 2018, life insurers paid N72.31 billion while non-life operators paid N70.52 billion.

    Smart, however, said that power outage, failure to abolish or amend CITA 2007 remain huge burden for the insurance companies.

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    On the new capitalisation for insurance and reinsurance companies, he stated that the association has started engaging the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) with a view to defining the components of the new capital level as well as the incentives and palliatives that members will enjoy to ensure that as many companies as possible scale through.

    He urged the association members to contact the secretariat if they face challenges and also for updates,

    The Director-General of the association, Mrs. Yetunde Ilori, noted that in a bid to encourage good relationship with the insuring public, the Customer Complaint Bureau established by the association has effectively resolved over 40 conflicts received from policyholders and 30 between member companies.

    She noted that the association is assiduously working to reduce complaints from policyholders to a minimal, stressing that this has encouraged confidence of the insuring public.