The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Insurer

  • Insurer Fajemirokun to be honoured

    Doyen of Insurance and industrialist, Chief Oladele Fajemirokun will on Friday be installed as Baba Oba Ifewara, Osun State.

    Oba Ifewara, Hezekiah Owolola in an interview with journalists, said Chief Fajemirokun was chosen as Baba Oba based on his antecedents in developing the people around him.

    He said they expect the industrialist to bring institutions, factories and create employment in the community.

    He said Ifewara, an offshoot of Ile-Ife, needs to develop and he wants to develop the town than how he met it.

    The Oba also said he choose Fajemirokun to mark his 40th anniversary on the throne, adding that his father late Chief Henry Fajemirokun played a pivotal role in his life when he ascended the throne.

    He said: “I deem the industrialist a blessing because as a business man, he can influence investors into the town. This will ultimately bring employment opportunities for our youths when they graduate from school.

    “Ifewara is very close to Ile-Ife and Ilesa. The meaning and significance of Baba Oba Ifewara is huge. Chief Fajemirokun is my blood and he is older than me. He will be my adviser in order for me not to derail.”

    Chief Fajemirokun on his part said he accepted the title because he said it is a homecoming for him and he is doing it for his generation.

    He believes that he can contribute his quota to the development of his people and the country at large.

    Commenting on the development, Chairman, AIICO Insurance, Bukola Oluwadiya said Chief Fajemirokun is deserving of the title, noting that he is a good man.

    He said that Fajemirokun will promote projects that will benefit the community as he is favorably disposed to favouring and helping people around him.

  • Insurer assures of agric credit success

    The Managing Director, Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC), Mrs. Folashade Joseph, has promised to ensure the implementation of the insurance component of  Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS).

    She spoke yesterday in Lagos at the opening of a capacity building programme organised to enlighten the Agric Desk Officers of commercial banks on how to implement the risk component of CACS.

    She said: “NAIC is committed to forging the appropriate partnerships with deposit money banks (DMBs) in the fulfilment of their mandate by the provision of the appropriate risk management services to the Agric investors bring financed by the banks.

    “ The deposit money banks and other financial institutions have been NAIC’s major distribution channels over the years with the DMBs, as credit providers, and NAIC, as risk management service provider.”

    Stressing the readiness of NAIC to improve its services to conform with modern realities, she said: “I wish to state that NAIC is poised to improve its services in the area of product development, claims payments, valuable farm extension services across the entire agric value chain.

    “Risk management remains an integral part of modern day agric financing model, as such the CBN (Central Bank of Nigeria) had deemed it fit to ensure that any agric investor accessing the CACS facility must have the project insured by NAIC as stated in the current lending guidelines for CACS loan to protect the project from failing due to unforseen risks.”

  • Concerns over insurer mergers, service disruption

    Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) among insurers may present as much of a risk as the risks the underwriters insure.

    According to Business Insurance report, property/casualty insurer mergers are an “emerging risk” for risk managers, said Debbie Rodgers, senior vice president of global risk management at Aramark Corp. in Philadelphia.

    Insurer solvency questions used to be a key concern for risk managers seeking coverage, but now the sheer volume of M&A activity means that the pool of companies from which to buy coverage is shrinking, she said.

    While the number of property/casualty insurer deals last year was smaller than in 2014, Ms. Rodgers said several studies have shown the 2015 deals were “significantly” larger.

    An example was Ace Limited’s acquisition of Chubb Corporation, forming the new Chubb Limited, in a deal worth $29.7 billion.

    Ms. Rodgers, Business Insurance’s 2010 Risk Manager of the Year, made the comments while moderating a panel on consolidation during Business Insurance’s seventh annual Risk Management summit in New York last week.

    Marti Dickman, vice president of risk management at Advanced Disposal Services Inc. in Pointe Vedra, Florida, said the continued consolidation has definitely changed the insurance marketplace — and not for the better, as far as risk managers are concerned.

  • Bristol helicopter crash: Leadway, Scib lead insurer, broker

    Leaday Assurance Limited and Scib Nigeria Company Limited are both lead insurer and broker of the Bristow Sirkorsky S-76 Helicopter that crashed into the lagoon in Lagos last week, The Nation has learnt..

    Both firms confirmed via Sms text messages that the aircraft was insured in Nigeria and the premium paid up to date, adding that the aircraft was insured in Nigeria by Nigerian underwriters, led by Leadway and that the contract has both local and foreign reinsurance backing. They were however silent on the sum assured,

    Meanwhile, efforts to confirm sum assured and other type of insurance claim available to the victims proved abortive as the company’s Public Relations Officer, Cornelius Onuora, was yet to respond to inquiries as at press time.

    The Managing Director, Leadway Assurance,  Hassan Odukale, said the aircraft was insured in Nigeria by a panel of Nigerian insurers and the contract was handled by Scib Nigeria Insurance Brokers. On the details of the contract, Odukale replied : “Yes we are leading the panel of underwriters with Scib Nig & Co as the broker.As per ethics of our profession, we would suggest you approach the brokers for information on the claim.This is already in public domain and I agree with you that the public should be informed,” Odukale stated.

    When contacted,  the Managing Director, Scib Insurance Brokers, Mr Sola Tinubu, who said he was on a trip outside Lagos referred our reporter to the General Manager and Head of Technical of the company, Ayo Akande, who was not on seat, but in his SMS response on the details of insurance of the aircraft, he said: Akande confirmed that the aircraft was insured.

    He said: “The insurance was arranged by Scib Nigeria and Co Ltd.The programme is written by a panel of local underwriters and offshore reinsurers.

    “The insurance is fully compliant with Nigerian laws and regulations as well as international standards and requirements .This is the information available at this point in time”, Mr Akande said.

    Based on the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) global requirement for insurance claims, a minimum of $100,000 is to be paid to the family of each passenger who died in plane crashes. Thirty per cent of the total claims, or $30,000 per head, is expected to be paid within 30 days of the loss as the initial liability, while the balance is to be paid after the presentation of letters of administration by the victims’ family members.

  • Insurer urges pharmacists to collaborate

    Pharmacists have been urged to team up to develop the industry.

    The Group Managing Director, Mutual Benefit Assurance, Dr Akin Ogunbiyi, gave the charge at the bi-monthly meeting of the Association of Industrial Pharmacists of Nigeria (NAIP) in Lagos.

    He said pharmacists could pull resources to boost local production of raw materials rather than relying on import.

    Ogunbiyi was the guest speaker at the event with the theme, 2015 Economic Outlook: Exploring strategic options for business.

    He said about 85 per cent of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) is imported.

    This, he said, should not be because there are investable funds to boost development in the sector.

    The Federal Government, he said, is saddled with public institutions, and as such private investors are critical to the development of the sector.

    He charged pharmacists to see opportunities in the industry, adding that the country is the number one supplier of pharmaceutical products to the sub-Saharan region.

    Ogunbiyi said with the way the dollar is rising daily, over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription drugs would be out of reach of the common man. The falling of the naira is affecting the sector, adding that one cannot ask the pharmacists to pay more on products.

    The solution, he said, is that they should come together to tackle the problem.

    “We have the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN). They should be able to assist in that particular area to reduce the cost,’’ he added.

    He said the sector could attract investments, stressing that the people  with investable funds should be brought in.

    “All the industry needs to do is show seriousness. They should come up with business plans and ideas. Then, the funds will come,” he said.

    Ogunbiyi said pharmacists should contribute to the country’s micro economic development.

    “It is a critical time when people should look beyond the country’s economic main stay, which is oil, to research into other areas,” he said.

    The pharmaceutical industry, he said, has not done enough to build its capacity, especially in local manufacturing.

     

  • US insurer pays $6m in penalties

    Insurance Commissioner, California Department of Insurance Dave Jones said the National Union Fire Insurance Co. (NUFIC) of Pittsburgh, a member of AIG’s Chartis Group, had agreed to pay the California Department of Insurance (CDI) a penalty of nearly $6 million for violating fair business practices.

    “This is a win for California consumers and sends an important message to insurers about the cost of not complying with laws and regulations designed to protect consumers,” said Jones.

    The products covered under the settlement include group and blanket limited benefit plans, supplemental accident and disability policies, and accident and disability coverage provided with travel insurance policies.

    Many improper practices and violations were cited by insurance regulators, including delays and errors in processing claims, product limitations not explained clearly, failure to use licensed people to sell insurance products, and failure to fulfill and administer policies after sale, among others. As a result of these violations, CDI participated in a multi-state insurance regulators investigation and enforcement action against NUFIC.

    The settlement includes a required two-year monitoring period with an implementation audit performed by insurance regulators and a series of other audits and reports by the insurance company to ensure compliance.

    The agreement includes provisions for an additional $21 million in penalties should the company fail to comply with any of the stipulated conditions.

    Under California law, the $5,991,132.37 penalty payment collected by the California Department of Insurance was deposited in the General Fund of the State of California.

     

  • Insurer to pay $3m to avoid prosecution

    A  Bethesda-based insurance company that gained advantage over competitors by allowing its employees to inappropriately access a federal Medicare database has agreed to pay the federal government $3 million to avoid criminal prosecution, according to the Maryland United States’ attorney’s office.

    According to an agreement with prosecutors, top officials at Coventry Health Care Inc., which is incorporated in Delaware but headquartered in Bethesda and provides group and individual health insurance to some five million members nationally, knew of the inappropriate use of the database and did nothing to stop it until a federal agency raised concerns.

    The agreement says employees with Coventry, which administers Medicare Advantage plans for some of its customers, or its subsidiary First Health Priority Services, in appropriately accessed the federal government’s database between 2005 and 2006 to obtain eligibility information for customers who had separately filed a worker’s compensation claim, prosecutors said.

     

  • Insurer Old Mutual to acquire Ecobank’s insurance unit

    Insurer Old Mutual is set to buy the property and casualty insurance unit of pan-African lender Ecobank for about $20 million, it was learnt.

    The company, which aims at boosting its presence in the sub-Saharan Africa to cash in on the region’s strong economic growth, also said its German and Austrian life operations would stop writing new business as they no longer meet its investment criteria.

    Old Mutual has over the past three years sold businesses, including its Nordic life insurance unit to repay debt and dispel investor concerns that the group lacked focus and would be worth more broken up.

    Old Mutual had life insurance sales of 278 million pounds, in the three months to September 30, down 10 percent from a year earlier, and in line with the 2752 million pounds expected by analysts in a company poll.

    Non-covered sales rose four per cent to 3.76 billion pounds, ahead of the 3.2 billion pounds penciled in by analysts.

    Shares in Old Mutual, which quit its historic home of South Africa and listed in London in 1999, closed at 174 pence last week about 8.4 billion pounds.

    The stock has risen 27 percent in the past year, outperforming a six percent increase for the FTSE 100 share index.