L-R: Mrs. Temitope Abolaji, Marketer, Linkage Assurance Plc; Ms. Floy Ukadike, Marketer, Linkage Assurance Plc; Mrs. Olubukola Olaniyan, Marketer, Linkage Assurance Plc; Mrs. Joyce Ojemudia, GM, Marketing, Linkage Assurance Plc; Mrs. Chioma Ogugua, Underwriter, Linkage Assurance Plc); Ms. Mercy Osunde, Marketer, Linkage Assurance Plc during the celebration of International Women’s Day organized by Linkage Assurance Plc in Lagos.

As the world marks the International Women’s Day this March, seeking empowerment for the feminine gender, female staff of Linkage Assurance Plc have underscored the importance of harnessing the potential and hidden abilities that rest with the women-fold.

They noted that if the hidden abilities can be explored without being undermined by sentiments that women are the weaker gender, the feminine gender could add so much value to the economy and society at large.

Speaking on the theme ‘Each for Equal’ as part of the activities to mark the women’s day, Mrs. Joyce Ojemudia, GM, Marketing, Linkage Assurance called on the women staff to take advantage of the event and array of expert speakers brought together to redefine their career and launch themselves into higher responsibility in their professions.

Ojemudia also noted that it is important that women set goals, be focused, have clear vision, be committed to their visions, and take action.

“I will advice that we get your certifications and have mentors whom you can look up to for guidance and advice.”

The speakers, while agreeing that women are disadvantaged in a number of ways including managing career and family, they emphasized the importance of women overcoming these to make success in their career by exhibiting superior knowledge, by virtue of what they deposit or invest in their brain.

They also agreed that women should invest in every aspect of their life while also mastering the art of impression management, as that will give them the opportunity to be considered along their male counterparts for any position.

On the theme of the conference, the speakers said it was app and necessary to stimulate women to know that they are not inferior to men, and could achieve so much if the pursue their goals conscientiously.

Among the speakers at the event includes- Modupe Marc-Dawodu who spoke on the topic ‘The Challenges Facing the 21^st Century Women’; Mr. Rajiv Sharma, Management Leadership Skills; Dr. Lekan Adelakun, ‘Dynamics of Women’s Health and Stress Management’; and Mrs. Abi Longe who also spoke on ‘Productivity and Performance to Achieve Corporate Goals’.

The Executive Committee of the African Insurance Organisation (AIO) has formally postponed the 47^th AIO Conference & General Assembly earlier scheduled for Lagos, Nigeria from May 31 to June 3, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new date for the conference is now October 3, 2020 in Lagos, Nigeria.

Patrick Winters

Switzerland’s top insurance companies are in talks with the financial regulator about the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on their capital buffers and their business, according to people familiar with the matter.

The watchdog contacted Swiss Re AG, Zurich Insurance Group AG, Swiss Life Holding AG and other local insurers to discuss capital and liquidity issues after the market slump and ahead of an expected wave of claims related to coronavirus deaths, cancellations and business disruption, the people said, asking not to be identified talks are private.

The regulator, known as Finma, is in “close contact” with the institutions that it regulates in such situations, a spokesman said, adding that it’s closely monitoring the situation and possible effects. Insurers are likely to be more impacted by the correction in financial markets than by claims, he said, declining to comment on specific companies.

Insurers — as well as the re-insurers who take up their losses — are assessing the cost of disruptions related to the virus – which has claimed the lives of more than 10,000 and put swathes of the U.S. and Europe on lockdown. The industry has worked to reduce its exposure to pandemics since the 2003 outbreak of SARS in Asia. Over recent years, that’s included tightening their policies by inserting communicable-disease exclusions in contracts.

A Zurich and Swiss Re spokesperson declined to comment. Swiss Life said that and other insurers are “regularly in exchange with the supervisory authority Finma regarding their business activities. As a matter of principle, we do not comment on our ongoing exchange with Finma.”

Insurers that fall under Finma’s regulation have solvency ratios that are on average well over the required minimum, the watchdog said. Capital buffers built up over the years can also be used in case that’s required, Finma said.

Munich Re and Swiss Re, the world’s two biggest re-insurers, in recent days sought to reassure investors that the virus would have a limited impact on their businesses.

“Even in the very unlikely scenario of a worldwide pandemic equivalent to a 200-year event, Munich Re would face a maximum of 1.4 billion euros in life and health insurance claims – similar in scope to a medium-sized natural catastrophe in property-casualty reinsurance,” the firm said in its annual report on Wednesday. It doesn’t expect the coronavirus outbreak to have any overall material effect on annual results.

The major impact of Covid-19 on the insurance industry to date is on the asset side of the balance sheet, Swiss Re chief financial officer John Dacey said at an investor conference. The company put in place hedges to mitigate the economic impacts of falling equity prices and widening credit spreads and sees the impact to be entirely manageable at this point, he said.

By Insurance Specialists at Webber Wentzel

After the likely spike in insurance claims arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, insurers are likely to introduce new or change existing exclusionary clauses which were not previously considered to be necessary.

The rapid spread and potential damage of the Coronavirus presents an extraordinary situation for governments, businesses and individuals. The Coronavirus is twice as contagious as ordinary flu, but mortality associated with the virus is 20 times higher. The last comparable event was about 100 years ago, when the Spanish flu epidemic occurred just after World War I.

In the following sections, we discuss the insurance policies that are most likely to experience claims as a result of events arising from the Coronavirus outbreak.

• Life and Health Insurance

Life insurance, income protection and disability policies, which pay out when the policyholder dies or is incapacitated, could provide protection in this event, if all other conditions are met and there are no other exclusions or limitations.

One exclusion is risk-taking behaviour. If the policyholder does not follow well-publicised government recommendations to avoid contagion, for example by visiting banned countries, then the insurance company could regard this as high-risk behaviour and may not pay out on the policy.

These policies generally preclude pre-existing conditions, such as HIV. The policyholder should check what diseases are excluded. Other policies may specifically exclude a pandemic of certain diseases.

• Medical Malpractice Insurance

This covers any act, error or omission on the part of a doctor, specialist, nurse or health establishment, in the context of providing a health service to patients that gives rise to a claim for damages. The standard of reasonableness applies. In a pandemic, the circumstances will be dictated by international best practice, so the health practitioner or establishment will be held to the infection control measures recommended by global bodies.

Given the numbers affected by the Coronavirus, there may be class actions formed by groups of patients exposed to harm through inadequate infection control measures. In this situation, the reality that health infrastructure is under stress could be raised as a valid defence.

In SA, there are only about 7,000 critical-care beds available (across the public and private sectors) and it would only require 20,000 severe infections to reach the upper limit of what our health infrastructure can respond to.

• Business Interruption

Unfortunately, businesses interruption policies may not cover damage arising from the consequences of Coronavirus. Certain policies require that there must be underlying material damage to insured property to trigger the business interruption section of a policy, and the spread of the Coronavirus and COVID-19 are unlikely to result in physical damage to insured property.

However, some business interruption policies do include extension clauses for infectious or contagious diseases.

Those clauses do not require material damage as a condition of indemnity, although even some of those extension clauses can be limited to a certain radius from the insured’s premises before the policy will respond. Some interruptions may be outside the specified radius, making it difficult to claim under the extension clause.

• General Liability

These policies cover the liability of an individual to pay damages to a third party as a result of negligent conduct, e.g. the “slip and fall” cover that supermarkets carry to protect themselves against claims from shoppers who injure themselves as a result of a slippery floor.

In the Coronavirus situation, businesses may potentially be sued for negligently allowing it to spread. A typical example would be a business in the hospitality industry which holds a gathering of more than 100 people, despite the prohibition, at which someone is infected with Coronavirus.

It is difficult to prove negligence and causation in the event of the spread of a disease. The claimant would have to demonstrate the necessary steps were not taken to contain it and that the infection was a direct result of the event.

It might be easier to prove negligence on the part of the government (for not having correct infection control in public buildings or government institutions, such as prisons) than it would be against individual businesses. Currently, to limit the potential number and size of those claims, a State Liability Amendment Bill is under discussion, but it has not yet been passed.

• Directors & Officers Insurance

These policies cover wrongful acts by directors and officers of a company that result in the company or third parties such as shareholders and creditors incurring a loss. This can result in a claim against the directors and officers of the company in their personal capacities to make good the loss.

The Coronavirus could present a similar scenario to that experienced in the case of Cyber-attacks on companies. This can result in claims against directors and officers for failing to take steps to protect the business, which may be covered under directors and officers insurance.

If appropriate policies and procedures are not implemented, directors and officers may risk being liable. For example, the liquidator of a company could sue the directors and officers as a result of acts or omissions that caused the company to collapse.  The US and China are already seeing the first sign of class actions.

• Employment Practices Liability

Employment practices insurance provides additional compensation for employees above that provided by the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases (COID) Fund, for example if employees contract COVID-19 in the course of their work.

Many companies are recommending that their employees work from home because they cannot guarantee their protection in the workplace. There has to be a balance between keeping employees safe and continuing to earn revenue.

• Travel and Credit Insurance

In the context of COVID-19, travel insurance may pay out for claims arising from events such as the cancellation of flights or travel plans, repatriation, medical expenses and delays.

Credit insurance will protect a company against non-payment of accounts by debtors who go insolvent. Their insolvency could be triggered by supply disruptions or business closure caused by the Coronavirus pandemic.

• Conclusion

Although we expect that COVID-19 will result in an increase in the number of insurance claims, the success of claims arising from the pandemic is not inevitable. At this stage, the effect and consequences of the Coronavirus pandemic and COVID-19 on insurance are as uncertain as what to do next to avoid catastrophe.

Mr. Tope Smart

Chairman

Nigerian Insurers Association

An operator in the insurance industry has enjoined the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to extend the deadline given the market to recapitalise from December 31, 2020 to 2021 in view of the market disruptions and uncertainties created by the coronavirus crisis in Nigeria and around the world.

He said the prevailing situation has made all the recapitalisation strategies and game-plans by operators unrealistic and largely overtaken by events of the moment.

The operator told Business Journal thus: “It is important for the market to appeal to NAICOM to extend the recapitalisation deadline from December 31, 2020 to 2021 because of this coronavirus issue. If the COVID-19 problem does not go away by the third quarter of 2020, it would be rather difficult for many operators to meet the December 31, 2020 recapitalisation deadline set by NAICOM. The reality is that the current situation is adversely affecting all our strategies and plans to recapitalise on or before the deadline. I believe that if the market decides to approach the regulator on this issue as a body, something positive could be done.”

Mr. Tope Smart

Chairman

Nigerian Insurers Association

Lloyd’s of London has asked its member firms to provide estimates of their potential current and final losses from coronaviru to help the insurance market understand its possible overall losses from the impact of the pandemic.

Lloyd’s was working with British and overseas regulators to formulate its response to the spread of the virus, using its experience of previous catastrophes, the spokesman said in an emailed statement.

“The situation is fast-moving and changing daily, leading to a high degree of uncertainty about the eventual type and scale of losses that may emerge,” the spokesman said.

Lloyd’s would ask its managing agents the same question in a month’s time, the spokesman said, and could ask for the information more frequently, as it expected “the loss estimates to move over time as the situation and our understanding develops.”

Lloyd’s of London chief executive, John Neal said last week that the impact for the 330-year old commercial insurance market was likely to be felt through claims for supply chain disruption.

Lloyd’s closed its “underwriting room” in its City of London tower – where insurance deals take place face-to-face – for the first time for a day on Friday last week to see if the market was able to operate without it. The test was successful, the spokesman said.

Risk modeling firms say they are not yet able to provide estimates of the global insurance losses from the virus.

Lloyd’s made pre-tax losses of $2 billion in 2017 following large hurricanes and other natural disasters.

Allianz Nigeria makes good her promise to settle motor claims within 60 minutes.

The nationwide campaign to settle motor claims within 60 minutes which was launched on February 17, 2020 has seen a total of 53 claims to the tune of N2, 784, 225 settled in less than an hour.

Allianz Nigeria expresses gratitude to the numerous customers that have benefited from the 60 minutes campaign.

The company has also committed to continue to provide excellent service delivery of the highest standards.