The new Managing Director of the Nigeria Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), Mr Abubakar Bello yesterday ceremonially took over the reins of leadership of the Bank from Mr. Bashir M. Wali, who was the Acting MD till Thursday, April 20, 2017.

The handover ceremony was a mere formality as the new team headed by Mr. Bello had resumed at the Bank with immediate effect on April 21st upon their appointments by President Muhammadu Buhari as communicated to the NEXIM Bank by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) on Thursday, April 20th, 2017.

Mr. Eddie Efekoha, Chairman, Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) says the insurance industry in West Africa needs uniform regulation to create standard for insurance market across member states in West Africa, promote technical knowledge sharing amongst member state underwriter and regulators, standardise certain insurance product package and benefits and promote confidence and business sharing or exchange among players within the sub region.

Efekoha said in a paper he delivered at the 2017 WAICA conference in Banjul, The Gambia that other benefits include need to increase  the existing low level penetration, have a harmonised regulatory standard, reduce premium flight outside the region and need to have an insurance framework to support regional business transactions

He said however that a harmonied regulatory regime in the region could face challenges due to

differences in the soundness of national macroeconomic and financial sector policies, nations are at different levels in the development of public infrastructure, effectiveness of market discipline and efficiency in financial markets differs within the region, absence of a single currency, governance structure of the various national regulatory system are not the same, state of development of the legal systems are at various levels and differences in level of technological growth.

“The insurance sector represents a significant part of the financial system and plays an important role in the economy. Regional business walls in the supply of insurance products are increasingly being broken down, institutions and individuals may want to leverage arbitrage opportunities hence the need for regulation. Regulation of insurance business in the West Africa sub region is largely underdeveloped. There are basic differences in insurance supervisory standards within the sub-region.”

Efekoha said the objectives of insurance regulation includes minimising and where possible prevent anything that routinely causes insurers to go out of business and unable to pay claims, prevent unfair and deceptive policies and practices since insurance contracts promise to make certain payments under certain conditions at some point in the future, ensure that adequate information are available to consumers of  insurance products and to encourage the availability of insurance products that have been made compulsory.

He recommended strengthening the individual countries’ regulatory structure through total autonomy,

ensure financial independence of the regulatory system in each of the countries within the sub-region while regulatory institutions should build the needed human capacity for effective market surveillance.

“There must be deliberate efforts to foster relationship within the sub region financial sector. Trade Associations must be strengthened to play a collaborative role in the harmonisation process. Technical capacity requirement amongst member states must be standardised. Build on the ECOWAS Brown Card System. Borrow a leave from the francophone countries, already have a harmonised regulatory framework and need to build African market for African. “

The on-going reforms in the Nigerian Insurance sector being driven by the industry regulator, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) would increase industry capacity for big ticket accounts, greater contribution to GDP and more value creation for shareholders.

According to Dr Pius Apere, Managing Director/CEO, Linkage Assurance Plc “one of the reforms, ‘Risk Based Capital Regime in the Risk Based Supervision Framework’ would further redefine the way insurance is delivered in this country and offer more rewarding benefits to the generality of Nigerians.

Dr Apere made the remarks at the Nigerian Stock Exchange during the closing gong ceremony on the floor of the NSE.

Apere who led other directors and executive management to the NSE said insurance in Nigeria is now better positioned to reward investors, as capacity for business has grown as well as increased consumer awareness.

“The Risk-based Capital supervision (RBS) about to be introduced by the insurance regulator (NAICOM) in the near future, when fully implemented, will increase the need for capital injection within the Nigerian insurance industry in order to underwrite more special and/or large risks.”

“This is likely to increase mergers and acquisitions within Nigerian insurance industry. Consequently, the drive to inject new capital (through foreign and local investors) will surely increase the trading activities of most insurance companies’ shares/stocks on the Exchange.”

He told stockbrokers and management of the NSE that Linkage Assurance Plc has repositioned to deliver increased value to all stakeholders, assuring its investors that the company going forward would continue to enhance returns on investment for its shareholders.

Apere further informed the stockbrokers that the future looks bright for the company, given the result of its restructuring which is beginning to impact on the company’s overall performance.

“Linkage Assurance Plc is currently underwriting only non-life insurance business with 14 branches operating across the regions in Nigeria. The Board of Linkage’s current strategic direction is to diversify the company’s business activities in order to achieve a sustainable growth in gross premium income (GPI) thereby increasing market share and adding more value to its shareholders in the nearest possible future.”

He also stated that the strategic business plans of the company may include underwriting of life insurance business in order to become a composite insurance company leading to enhancement of its competitive advantage.

“The above would require new capital injection in order to achieve this strategic decision. Thus, we are likely to engage the services of the stock brokers to raise the required capital.”

Linkage Assurance Plc recently unveiled seven new products as part of its strategy to deepen penetration and gain larger market share.

“Linkage has recently repositioned itself to demonstrate innovation and creativity by designing and launching budget-friendly insurance products in order to deepen the insurance penetration required within the Nigerian insurance industry, Apere said.

“We are poised to become more competitive and that is why we have developed these products to meet customers need.”

The new products include Linkage Estate Insurance Plan; Linkage Events Insurance Xclusive; Linkage SME Comprehensive Plan; Linkage Shop Insurance Cover; Linkage Citadel Shield Plan; Linkage Purple Motor Plan and Linkage Third Party Plus.

Law Union & Rock Insurance Plc paid claims of N1.5 billion in 2016 and another N380 million in the first quarter of 2017 to underline its corporate commitment to settlement of claims as part of its customer-friendly policy. The company also has a 5-day claim payment policy for effective and efficient claims processing regime for the benefit of customers.

Mr. Jide Orimolade, Managing Director/CEO of Law Union & Rock Insurance said yesterday that besides meeting obligations to policyholders, the company is also committed to adding value to customers through strategic innovation that delivers seamless, convenient and stress-free business ecosystem.

“Our strategic innovation driven majorly by ICT has eliminated financial risk in the payment process, ensures product deployment with key features that guarantees edge over the competition and has empowered us to grow our retail business production by nine percent via seamless technology despite the prevailing economic constraints in the market.”

In the 2016 business year, Law Union & Rock reported 100 percent growth in Profit After Tax from N280.9 million in 2015 to N561.8 million while claims ratio dropped from 67 percent to 49 percent in the same period under review. The underwriting result grew by 10 percent to N1.2 billion from N1.1 billion in 2015.

Orimolade said the focus of the company in 2017 is to grow the company’s gross premium written by 50 percent, retain 90 percent of existing customers, grow direct and retail businesses, improve relationship with brokers, achieve improved credit rating from A- to A+ by GCR and become the preferred first choice underwriter in general business in Nigeria.

“The second focus of the company is on process improvement. We are committed to improve our service delivery, improve brand visibility nationwide and develop new products in the area of retail and agricultural insurance. The company is strategically positioned to consolidate on the good financials achieved in 2016 to drive its operations in 2017.”

The Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) says it is working towards greater contribution of insurance to the economic growth of the country.

Mr. Eddie Efekoha, Chairman, NIA, said at a retreat for insurance chief executives in the country that the meeting was part of the efforts by the industry to seek ways of making the impact of insurance business felt in the economic growth plan of the nation.

Efekoha said the retreat was organised to provide an avenue for chief executives to discuss and cross fertilise ideas on industry issues, serve as a platform for the development of manpower needs of the industry in critical areas and also an opportunity for interface between members and interaction with the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).

The NIA chairman added that the retreat fits into his four-point agenda of stakeholders’ engagement, enforcement of market discipline, review of NIA constitution and greater attention to the new NIA House project.

He said the papers to be presented at the retreat on agriculture reflect the industry’s desire to support the diversification of the economy by the federal government and also empower members to explore business opportunities in that segment of the national economy.

The underwriting firm, Linkage Assurance Plc, has enhanced the consumer benefits in the existing compulsory “Motor Third Party Insurance Policy” under the Insurance Act 2003 with additional protection for the insured’s vehicle.

The existing compulsory “Motor Third Party Insurance Policy” does not cover the insured and his/her motor vehicle. It covers the insured’s legal liability for the damage the insured has caused to a third party only – injury, death, and/or property damage caused to a third party in the event of an accident caused by or arising out of the use of the insured vehicle. Premium for this policy is N5, 000.00 and N7, 000.00 for private and commercial vehicles plying the Nigerian roads respectively.

However, the new product (‘Linkage Third Party Plus’) recently unveiled by Linkage Assurance Plc offers an additional coverage (own damage cover) for the insured.  This is an innovative insurance solution available only from Linkage Assurance PLC as a budget cover for private vehicles.

This new product covers all the benefits under the existing compulsory “Motor Third Party Insurance Policy” as stated above, plus the additional benefit of own damage protection. Thus, the policy provides additional cover for the insured to a maximum sum of N250,000.00 for damage to his/her own vehicle in the event of an accident.

The premium for the policy is N10, 000.00 per annum, just an additional N5,000.00 to the cost of obtaining the existing compulsory “Motor Third Party Insurance cover for private vehicles. “This is an invaluable, budget friendly, new product designed to meet the needs of all Nigerians particularly in this period of economic recession, says Dr Pius Apere, Managing Director/CEO, Linkage Assurance Plc.

Apere said the product has been developed with Nigerians in mind, having realized that many may not have the funds to take the Motor Comprehensive Insurance Policy for their vehicles at this time of economic recession, stating that with Linkage Third Party Plus you are able to get own damage cover up to N250,000.00 for just N10,000.00 premium per annum.

Thus, the product is particularly suitable for those policyholders who could no longer afford the cost of obtaining a Motor Comprehensive Insurance cover. Furthermore, the product is also highly suitable and appropriate for policyholders currently having the compulsory Motor Third Party Insurance Policy because with just an additional N5,000.00 premium payable they would also have own damage cover for a maximum sum of N250,000.00.

Dr Apere further stated that the future of the Nigerian insurance industry lies with penetration into the retail sector, unlike the corporate sector of the insurance business which is heavily saturated. “The retail market is still largely untapped with a huge potential for securing large volume of sales.”

According to him, Nigeria has over 180 million people, majority of whom are medium and lower income earners and they are unaware of the benefits of insurance. “Thus, the potential for growth is enormous and the opportunity is massive.”

Above all, Linkage Third Party Plusis a new product (designed to meet the needs of customers) which is here to reposition Linkage Assurance Plc to deepen the penetration of insurance in the retail sector of the Nigerian Insurance Market and it is currently being sold only by Linkage Assurance Plc.