The Nation Newspaper

Tag: STI

  • Onaolapo is Insurance Man of the Year

    • Stanbic IBTC bags PFA of the Year

    Managing Director, Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc (STI) Mr. Wale Onaolapo has been named the Insurance Man of the Year for 2013 at the second edition of InspenOnline Media Award.

    His firm also bagged the CSR Company of the Year.

    Mansad, however, bagged the Insurance Company of the Year Award, while IBTC Pension was named the Pension Fund Administrator of the Year.

    Also, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc bagged the Award of the CSR Company of the year, Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria bagged Best Professional Institute Award, the Managing Director, RiskGuard Africa Limited,Yemi Soladoye bagged the Professional Excellence Award, while Leadway Assurance Limited, won the Corporate Board of the Year Award.

    The Editor, InspenOnline Media, Chuks Udo Okonta, said the awards were given in recognition of the contributions of the chief executives of underwriting firms, brokerage firms and other allied institutions in the insurance industry towards the growth and advancement of the industry.

    He said the Corporate Social Responsibility Award is given in appreciation of the various contributions of underwriting companies, pension organisations and other financial institutions in providing intervention geared at enhancing and improving the quality of life and infrastructure in the various operating environments in the country.

    He explained that members of the public voted for the awardees via the social media.

    While appreciating the honour bestowed on him, Onaolapo thanked the organisers of the Nigerian Insurance and Pension Awards for finding him worthy.

    He promised to continue in his stride to ensure Insurance business in the country earns its rightful place of pride in the comity of financial institutions in the country and beyond.

    He said the company will not rest on its oars in upholding professionalism and strict adherence to corporate governance while maintaining the position of a responsible corporate entity to further project the industry.

    The Award ceremony was attended by a crop of professionals in the industry in the country. Chief Sunny Nwosu, President of the Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria, ISAN, was the Chairman of the Occasion.

    Others in attendance included the President of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers, NCRIB, Mr. Ayodapo Shoderu, the past President of the Council and Winner of the 2012 edition, Barrister (Lady) Olaide Osijo and the Managing Director of Riskguard Africa, Chief Yemi Soladoye, who delivered the keynote address at the occasion. Representatives of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria, CIIN, and the Nigerian Insurers Association, NIA also graced the event.

  • STI woos agents to achieve N15b target

    STI woos agents to achieve N15b target

    To achieve a N15 billion premiumincome target in the year, Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc (STI) is seeking the hand of the Association of Registered Insurance Agents (ARIAN) to grow its business.

    STI Executive Director, Mr, Samuel Brume Ogbodu spoke at a meeting with ARIAN in Lagos.

    He said STI recorded a premium income of N7.5 billion last year. This year, the company intends to focus and grow its retail business by engaging insurance agents because of their ability to reach the grassroots, he added.

    Ogbodu said the agents have helped to deepen insurance penetration and contributed to the income of the insurance industry.

    He said without agents, a lot of people would not have been insured adding that the population of the informal sector is huge enough to drive the industry to the next level.

    He said: “Our mission is to enhance the everyday life of our customers and Nigerians in general, which will in turn grow our business. A retail department was recently set up towards this goal. We also want to establish a relationship with ARIAN members. We believe with their support, we will be able to achieve the N15 billion premium income target set for this year.”

    ARIAN President, Mr Gbadebo Olamerun, said agents’ contributions  to the industry is huge.

    He added that the highest agents produced N1.3 billion in a company while another produced N580 million to the same company.

    He urged insurance firms to note the role of agents to grow their business, adding that it is only agents that can deliver insurance to the grassroots.

  • STI hosts Fifth Table Tennis tourney

    STI hosts Fifth Table Tennis tourney

    SOvereign Trust Insurance (STI) Plc has hosted its Fifth Annual Ikoyi Club 1938 Table Tennis competition for members and their spouses.

    The three-day competition had members compete for laurels in the various categories.

    The event held at the Table Tennis Section of the Ikoyi Club1938.

    Chairman, Table Tennis Section of Ikoyi Club 1938, Otunba Femi Oduntan, thanked the management of STI for its support, appealing to other corporate organisations to emulate its gesture.

    He said: “The least that any corporate organisation can do is to be socially responsible by contributing the little they can to the development of their immediate community and the nation at large.

    “Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc has consistently shown its commitment to the promotion of sports and the development of young talents to further enhance the human capacity in the sports industry”.

    STI’s Head, Corporate Communications and Brand Management, Mr. Segun Bankole, said his firm would continue to support the promotion and development of sports, adding that it is one of the key elements in the firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) .

    He said the CSR policy of the firm recognises sports as an integral factor in achieving a healthy society and contributing to its advancement.

  • STI posts N1.5b profit

    STI posts N1.5b profit

    Sovereign Trust Insurance (STI) Plc has posted a profit before tax of N1.58 billion in the year ended December 31, 2012 from a loss figure of N513.8million loss in 2011.

    Chairman of the company, Dr. Ephraim Faloughi, who made this known during the firm’s annual general meeting in Lagos at the weekend, said this was a result of several adjustments occasioned by the conversion to International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS).

    He said the company recorded a gross premium of N7.7 billion in the year under review from N6.4 billion in the previous year.; this represented a 20 per cent growth.

    He noted that the company continued on its profitability trend after several measures adopted to withstand the challenges and realities of the operating environment,

    Consequent upon this performance, he said total equity stood at N3.13billion as at end of 2012.

    To drive the growth of the company to attain its strategic goals, he said the firm decided to retain its earnings for the year and plough back same into the company.

    The chairman stressed that the firm’s pride was rooted in the quality of people who are its greatest asset and would, therefore, continue to equip and develop then as individuals and collectively as a company.

    He said: “STI will continue to craft its business strategies in a proactive manner to take advantage of the opportunities that could be presented in a growing economy.

    “We have charted a new course for the company and this was comprehensively articulated in our newly developed five year strategic blue print which is aimed at positioning us as one of the pacesetting brands in the insurance industry within the next five years and beyond.’’

    Speaking on the competition that would arise as a result of entrance of foreign insurance brands in the country, he said, the imperative of attracting further capital to boost competitive position cannot be undermined and adequate capitalisation of the business has been identified as a key competitive factor for the coming years.

    “We would therefore continue to explore several capital raising initiatives domestically and across the shares of the nation so as to attract adequate capital for our business,” he added.

  • STI supports arts

    Sovereign Trust Insurance (STI) Plc has extended its intervention initiative to the thespian arts with its partnership with the Playhouse Initiative on the production of ‘KAKADU the Musical’, which opened with the premiere performance on May 9.

    The musical play explores the life and times of Lagos post-independence through the civil war right to the days of the successive military coups in the country. It was set around the famous night club in Lagos in the 60s called Kakadu.

    According to the Associate Producer of th play, Winifred Nwokedi, Kakadu the Musical is “essentially the story of Lagos and how the city of infinite possibilities lost her innocence as a result of events occurring outside the city. The combination of the story and the music results in a most captivating musical production of the like that has never been done in Nigeria”.

    Spokesperson to the insurance firm, Segun Bankole, said the company’s support for the play is borne out of the need to relive a culture that is almost getting moribund.

    For STI, the play affords the organisation the opportunity to bring in the history of Lagos to the new generation of its inhabitants and Nigerians at large through the essence of theatre.

    He said the theatre in those days served as a rallying point for families and friends in terms of education and entertainment that were intellectually stimulating, but that the situation had really got to its lowest ebb and the theatre was fast losing patronage and something had to be done to revamp the theatre, especially among the youths.

    He also said, in line with the pioneering stance in the industry, “we want to be part of the change agents that will revive the theatre culture just as we continue to push for an insurance culture amongst Nigerians in the country; that for us is the nexus”.

    The Writer and Director of Kakadu the Musical, Uche Nwokedi (SAN), expressed his appreciation to the Management of STI and other corporate organisations and individuals who supported the project from incubation to the performance.

    He called for such collaborations, noting that they would boost the creative economy.

  • STI adopts risk framework to drive operations

    Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc is embracing enterprise risk management framework to drive its operations.

    The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr Wale Onaolapo, said the framework is designed to assist the Board and Management to align the company’s risks to its business strategy, enhance risk response decisions, reduce operational surprises and losses, identify and manage interdepartmental risks, allow for more informed risk decisions and improve capital management.

    He said the regulatory environment has evolved with regulators seeking assurance as to the robustness of the risk management capacity and the financial viability of financial institutions in a stressed environment.

    He addded that part of the company’s policy is to maintain a strong capital base to support the growth and the development of its business and to also be able to meet regulatory capital requirements at all times through its corporate governance, processes and procedures.

    Its spokesperson, Segun Bankole, said the move became necessary to ensure that operations of the organisation are carried out on sound business principles to protect shareholders and other stakeholders’ interest.

    Head of Risk Management and Control of of the firm, Mr Sanni Oladimeji, said it has become imperative to apply sound risk management principles to ensure that organisations are safeguarded against unforeseen risks.

    He further said the company’s management is committed to the execution of the framework in the years ahead.

    He noted that the creation of a Risk Management and Control Department in the organisation has given a voice to staff. He said employees have been trained to make decisions on risks.

  • STI to acquire ICT facilities

    Sovereign Trust Insurance (STI) Plc is to employ modern technology to shore up its efficiency.

    Its Managing Director, Wale Onaolapo, said the new business model would latch on the benefits of modern technology to enhance the performance and the profitability of the organisation.

    In a statement,  its Head of Information Technology and Strategy Lekan Oguntunde, said: “Any forward-looking organisation must have real time, cutting-edge technology at the fulcrum of its business operations and that is what Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc has adopted in pushing the frontiers of its operations beyond the shores of the country.”

    He noted that the company has identified that 21st century technology is the hallmark and arrow-head of any successful business which was what informed the company’s adoption of specialised business application software in the insurance industry known as Eskadenia in 2009 with several upgrades over the years to ensure seamless world class service delivery to its teeming customers.

    Oguntunde noted that the Eskadenia Software was developed using an object-oriented programming language, which was designed to automate the general insurance policy life cycles of the company’s customers, reduce operational gridlock, enhance job quality, maintain up to-date historical data on all businesses generated while ensuring high level of customer confidentiality and security.