All Posts in "Day: October 23, 2020"

By Favour Nnabugwu

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reviewed the appointment criteria for Chief Compliance Officers in Merchant Banks and Regional Banks (Commercial and specialized).

This is according to a circular issued by the apex bank dated October 9, 2020, and signed by its Director of Financial Policy and Regulation Department, Kevin Amugo.

According to the latest notice, Merchant banks and Regional banks are hereby granted dispensation to appoint CCOs on a grade not below an Assistant General Managers.

However, the CCOs will report directly to the ECO of the financial institutions who have sole responsibility for compliance matters in the bank.

This latest action by the CBN is the sequel to consultations and engagement with stakeholders emanating from its earlier circular referenced FPR/DIR/GEN/CIR/06/004 of September 28, 2016, in which the tentative requirements for Executive Compliance Officers and Chief Compliance Officers of deposit money banks were mooted

Patoma Admin by — October 23, 2020 in Banking & Finance 0

By Favour Nnabugwu

The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi said government had done a lot to improve the economy of the country

Amaechi said a lot is being done to improve the economy, create jobs for Nigerians and build more infrastructure to push the overall growth of the country in different sectors.

“We have done a lot in Infrastructure development and employment. The massive infrastructural development in the Railway sector has employed so many Nigerians. Also don’t forget that in 2011/2012, the out of school children In Nigeria was 10 million which has now been reduced to about 3 million.

“In 2013, the cost of Tomato was extremely high, and the then Minister of Agriculture invited me for a meeting and he said to me, ‘can you provide railway transportation from Kano to Lagos?’ I called the MD of Railway to make the trip from Kano to Lagos more regular, and in one week the price of tomato crashed”, he said.

The Minister for Transportation further gave insight on the connection between economic development and defence, in the light of security challenges.

Amaechi stated this when he delivered a lecture to participants of National Defence College Course 29 in Abuja, Friday.

“The only way the army can rest and the police can do their job effectively is when the economy begins to grow. When people are properly engaged with different activities, they won’t think of engaging in criminal activities.

“The Army is not supposed to give internal security but the Police is overwhelmed by the level of crime rate, hence the Army has consistently been rescuing Nigerians.

“Economic growth reduces crime and when there is no crime, the Military and police can rest”, Amaechi added.

As Minister of Transportation, Amaechi said a lot is being done to improve the economy, create jobs for Nigerians and build more infrastructure to push the overall growth of the country in different sectors.

“We have done a lot in Infrastructure development and employment. The massive infrastructural development in the Railway sector has employed so many Nigerians. Also don’t forget that in 2011/2012, the out of school children In Nigeria was 10 million which has now been reduced to about 3 million.

“In 2013, the cost of Tomato was extremely high, and the then Minister of Agriculture invited me for a meeting and he said to me, ‘can you provide railway transportation from Kano to Lagos?’ I called the MD of Railway to make the trip from Kano to Lagos more regular, and in one week the price of tomato crashed”, he said.

The Minister for Transportation further gave insight on the connection between economic development and defence, in the light of security challenges.

“The only way the army can rest and the police can do their job effectively is when the economy begins to grow. When people are properly engaged with different activities, they won’t think of engaging in criminal activities.

“The Army is not supposed to give internal security but the Police is overwhelmed by the level of crime rate, hence the Army has consistently been rescuing Nigerians.

Economic growth reduces crime and when there is no crime, the Military and police can rest”, Amaechi added

Responding, the Commandant, National Defence College, Abuja, Real Admiral M.M Kadiri, expressed the Defence’s appreciation for honouring their invitation and for enlightening them on the role of economic and infrastructure development in curbing crime.

Patoma Admin by — October 23, 2020 in Others 0

By Favour Nnabugwu

African insurance premiums set to rise as high as 5 percent as some of the premiums are 5 percent generated digitally, following the increase in the realization of the value of digital solutions.

In the fore-front of the digitalization, is the Nigeria’ insurance regulator, the National Insurance Commission, NAICOM.

Africa Insurance Organisation (AIO), in its ‘Insurance Purse’ digitalization will enhance the appeal and affordability of risk transfer products in

Underwriting and risk management will benefit from improved access to data and analytics, the study found.

At the same time, technology will help streamline the insurance value chain and enhance the efficiency of administrative processes.

Ultimately, states the report, digitalisation is expected to boost awareness and demand for insurance solutions, eventually translating into higher insurance penetration in Africa.

Secretary-General of AIO, Mr.Jean Baptiste Ntukamazina,  said: “During the Covid-19 crisis, digitalisation in Africa, as in other economies, has demonstrated its benefits.

While regulators and policymakers recognised the systemic nature of the insurance industry, the industry demonstrated its ability to continue to provide its services to policyholders without any disruption.

“Ultimately, this will reflect in an acceleration of the application of the new technology across Africa,” he added.

Group Managing Director of Africa Re, Dr Corneille Karekezi, said that Africa Re, “We are keen to promote, accompany and support the digitalisation of our core markets”.

“We are seeing pronounced differences in the degree of digitalisation across African insurance markets and its players.”

“The advanced technology helps insurers to access new client segments, improve their services and differentiate their products to overcome the focus on pricing that has eroded many of our markets in the past years.

Also leading the Nigerian insurance industry, Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Sunday Thomas confirmed that the framework for digitalisation of operations, such as IT Standards, Web aggregators and Regulatory Sandbox are in progress saying as the insurance industry positions itself for Post COVID-19 era, there must be a paradigm shift from the usual way of business practice.

Thomas charged operators in the insurance industry to deal with unethical business behaviour in the sector, with a view to repositioning the industry for post-COVID-19 era.

He said that as the insurance industry positions itself for Post COVID-19 era, the demands of the insuring public would require sound work ethics for optimal  performance.

The NAICOM boss said the year had, no doubt, been a very challenging one for the sector, individual households and the economy at large, as a result of the pandemic.

“ For us in the insurance sector, what this situation has thrown up is that there must be a paradigm shift from our usual way of business practice.

“It is, therefore, imperative on us to embrace and align our businesses to the new world order, if we must be seen to be relevant,” he emphasised.

According to him, “Intermediaries, business sincerity and customers’ satisfaction must be central to the industry’s core business principles”.

“Let me task you on business etiquette and ethics in all your professional dealings, as the unprofessional conduct of a few amongst you is posing great danger to our collective integrity as an industry.

“Over the years, a lot has been put into improving the fragile image and perception of insurance in this country.

“The commission has always and will at all times extend her full support to all stakeholders in the industry in their drive for business growth and development.

“NAICOM is open to new ideas and shall continue to introduce new reforms and initiatives in line with international best practices that will strengthen our institutions”.

According to him, “NAICOM has also adjusted to the challenges and/or opportunities which the pandemic has imposed on the socio-economic and business environment”

He said that the automation of the commission’s processes for prompt service delivery had been fast tracked.

Thomas said the e -portal for the regulatory submission of various applications by operators and obtaining of e -approvals was at its final stage.

Thomas said it could not have come at a better time than now when the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic was taking its toll on the financial sector.

Patoma Admin by — October 23, 2020 in Insurance 0
Covid-19: Global economy to suffer $7,000bn losses..Costs insurers, reinsurers $50bn

By Favour Nnabugwu

Global economy is to suffer a whopping of $7000 billion in losses, following the coronavirus pandermic that hit the world in the last eight months.

The Chief Economist of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Mr. Laurence Boone said the coronavirus pandemic is expected to have lasting effects on the global economy.

The world GDP is to decline by 4.5 percent in 2020 and rebound by an estimated 5 percent in 2021.

“In terms of cost, the losses caused by COVID-19 will reduce global GDP by 7 000 billion USD for the period ranging from November 2019 to the end of 2021”

According to him, “The decline in activities in Europe was less significant than expected in Q2

In the same manner, the COVID-19 pandermic has cost insurers and reinsurers between $35 bn and $50 bn as at 30 June 2020, according to Standard & Poor’s

The first twenty reinsurers alone have sustained a loss of roughly $12 bn that is to approximately 30 percent of the total amount for the entire market.

Most of the losses are accounted for by the risks of major event cancellation, property loans, credit, business interruption and aviation.

The rating agency says insurance professionals are bound to sustain additional Covid-19 losses in the upcoming months.

Meanwhile, AM Best published the list of the top 50 global reinsurers in 2019. Swiss Re ranked first for the second consecutive year. The Swiss company recorded a total of 42.228 billion USD in gross written premi-ums, an increase of 16% compared to 2018.

This performance goes back to the growth of the non-life activity in the Americas and EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). These two regions account for 25.1 percent of Swiss Re’s revenues.

Munich Re takes the second position in the ranking with $37.864 bn in premiums. Hannover Re retains the third place with $25.309 bn in premiums.

AM. Best has pointed out that the top ten reinsurers generate 69 percent of earnings. The average com-bined ratio of all companies stands at 102.4 percent a slight deterioration compared to 2018 (100.9percent).

Patoma Admin by — October 23, 2020 in Insurance 0