All Posts in "Day: May 17, 2021"

Over 15,418 insurance companies, banks, other sectors get compliance certificates from PenCom

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

Over 15,418 employers comprising Insurance companies, banks and other sectors of the economy have recurved compliance certificates from the National Pension Commission (PenCom) had as at May 10, 2021

Those companies had to clear the accounts if they wished to do business with the federal government.

PenCom in publication on its website entitled: Schedule of employers issued with certificate with provisions of the PRA 2014 as at May 10, 202.1

The remittance by companies showed AIICO Insurance contributed and remitted N193.93 million for its 296 employees in 2020, while NSIA Insurance, remitted N60.97 million for 128 employees and FBInsurance, remitted N128.36 million for 171 employees.

Linkage Assurance Plc, remitted N60.14 million for 174 employees; Custodian and Allied Insurance Limited, N59.91 million for 121 employees; Custodian Life Assurance Limited, N24.73 million for 49 employees and Unitrust Insurance Company Limited, N52.88 million for 115 employees.

Mutual Benefits Life Assurance Limited, remitted N51.32 million for 145 employees; Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc., N91.58 million for 198 employees; Regency Alliance Insurance Plc., N36.16 million for 119 employees and Jaiz Takaful Insurance Plc., M12.66 million for 36 employees.

Insurance brokers were also cleared and issued certificates. Plum Insurance Brokers Limited, was cleared having remitted N1.07 million for seven of its employees. Risk Analyst Insurance Brokers Limited, remitted N4.39 million for 29 employees and YOA Insurance Brokers Limited remitted N21.81 million for 52 employees.

It also showed Sterling Bank Plc., remitted N1.22 billion for its 2417 employees; Fidelity Bank Plc., remitted N827 million for 2904 employees and Reynolds Construction Company Limited, remitting N739 million for 3764 employees.

PenCom noted that Afrigblobal Insurance Brokers Limited remitted N6.14 million for 18 employees; Jolly & Partners Insurance Brokers Limited remitted N1.47 million for five employees and Manny Insurance Brokers Limited remitted N1.03 million for seven of its workers.

 

Patoma Admin by — May 17, 2021 in Pension 0
Naicom inuguarates SWGs for IFRS 17

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has inaugurated the Sub Working Groups (SWGs) of the Insurance Industry Financial Reporting Working Group (IIFRWG) for onward compliance to January 2023 deadline.

Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Sunday Thomas, inaugurated the group in Lagos today.

Thomas said that the SWG was expected to provide guidance to the IIFRWG for the seamless adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standard ( IFRS) 17.

He said the IFRS 17 would take effect from January 2023 by the Nigerian insurance companies.

The CFI said that the SWG was constituted to help foster the country’s adoption of the IFRS 17 in line with best practice.

Thomas asserted that the commission had equally issued a ‘roadmap’ on the adoption of the IFRS 17 insurance contract for insurance industry in Nigeria since January 2020.

“The roadmap was issued for general adoption by all insurance, reinsurance, takaful and micro insurance companies in Nigeria,” he said.

“The activities and timelines in the roadmap are intended to set the tone and facilitate a coordinated process and action steps.

The commissioner said that the SWGs were constituted to assist the IIFRWG in the achievement of its mandate and ensure seamless transition to the IFRS 17.

He said that the IIFRWG had identified the following three critical sub working groups namely : accounting, disclosure and reporting Sub -Working Group.

This, he said, would assist on technical issues relating to accounting.

According to him, “Members of the various SWGs comprised selected members of the IIFRWG and the co-opted members selected from the relevant organisations.

He explained that membership of each of the SWG was selected based on a member area of strength in terms of knowledge and experience.

He noted that the aim of constituting the group was to ensure that the views from Nigerian stakeholders interested in insurance financial reporting issues were properly considered in discussions at the SWG.

He assured that the commission would continue to give its full support to the SWGs to achieved the set goals.

The IIFRWG which was an initiative of the commission was inaugurated in March 2020 as an advisory and consultative team of experts for the purpose of seamless adoption of the IFRS 17 in Nigeria.

The initiative was in line with the commission’s strategic goal to facilitate transparency and accountability in financial reporting.

In May 2017, the International Accounting Standard Board issued the IFRS 17 insurance contract, which would replace the present IFRS 4 on accounting for insurance contracts effective January 2023.

This information forms the basis for users of financial statements to assess the effect that insurance contracts have on the entity’s financial position, financial performance and cash flows.

The objective was to ensure that an entity provides relevant information that faithfully represents the insurance contracts.

Patoma Admin by — May 17, 2021 in Insurance 0
GFIA implores IAIS to focus on sector-wide vulnerabilities

By admin

 

The Global Federation of Insurance Associations (GFIA) has told the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) that it should focus on sector-wide vulnerabilities not the “systemic importance” of individual insurers.

The GFIA was responding to a consultation by the IAIS on its draft application paper on macroprudential supervision. In its response, the GFIA states: “GFIA takes the view that monitoring and assessment of sector-wide vulnerabilities should be the prime focus, thus enabling supervisors to focus on vulnerabilities of distressed or failing insurers, where relevant. Currently, the application paper seems to place more emphasis on the assessment of the potential systemic importance of individual insurers, rather than the assessment of sector-wide vulnerabilities.”

The GFIA says it is concerned that the paper’s focus on the assessment and systemic relevance of individual insurers departs from the identification, monitoring and assessment of insurance sector-wide vulnerabilities and common exposures, and the risk of distressed or failing insurers or the collective actions or distress of a sufficiently large number of insurers.

Elsewhere in the response, the GFIA says it welcomes the reference made by the IAIS to, and the application of, the overarching concept of proportionality in macroprudential supervision. “The insurance sector appreciates the paper’s clear statement that the proportionality principle must be consistently applied to macroprudential supervision, and that nothing in the paper supersedes this principle.

The GFIA encourages the IAIS to continue to stress the importance of the proportionality concept where there could be ambiguity in sections of the paper about the need for proportionality in the application of macroprudential supervisory measures,” the response states.

The GFIA also states that supervisors should be able to base their assessments on their knowledge of insurers, the markets for which they are responsible and the data that they already have access to. And it stresses the importance of ensuring flexibility is embedded in the IAIS’s approach to macroprudential supervision.

The GFIA says it agrees that supervisors are required to have “an established process to assess the potential systemic importance of individual insurers and the insurance sector”. It states: “In this case, the systemic importance of the insurance sector should not be assessed alone, but rather within the entire financial system, including other sectors such as banking and securities. In particular, due consideration should be given to the fact that systemic risk of core insurance activities is limited and the scale of potential systemic risk in the insurance sector is much smaller than that of banking.”

Patoma Admin by — May 17, 2021 in Insurance 0
Cybersecurity insurance expects to hit $27.83bn in 2026

By admin

 

The cybersecurity insurance market  is expected to reach USD 27.83 billion by 2026 as it was valued at USD 7.36 billion in 2020

Cybersecurity insurance is a contract that an individual or entity can purchase to help reduce the financial risks associated with doing business online. In exchange for a monthly or quarterly fee, the insurance policy transfers some of the risk to the insurer.

In May 2020 – Coalition, the leading cyber insurance, and security company in the US are expanding its offering to Canada-based companies, providing proactive cybersecurity products and services and best-in-class cyber and technology error & omissions insurance to help keep businesses safe.

The coalition will offer up to CAD 20 million of comprehensive insurance coverage supported by the financial strength of Swiss Re (A.M. Best A+) to companies with up to CAD 1 billion in annual revenue.

In September 2019 – AXA XL and Accenture have partnered to offer global cyber-security expertise to AXA XLs underwriters, brokers, and clients to strengthen their cyber capabilities and recover from cyber-attacks.

The increasing digitalization adoption, such as the cloud, Big Data, mobile technologies, IoT, and artificial intelligence (AI), in ever more areas of business and society, and the growing connectivity have increased the workload of already strained IT teams.

Cases of unauthorized stealing or accessing sensitive business data, such as intellectual properties, employees personal information, or even financial records, have been rising, which, in turn, is driving the cybersecurity insurance market.

However, cyber Insurance helps in guarding businesses against the potential effects of cyber-attacks. It helps an organization mitigate risk exposure by offsetting costs after a cyber-attack/breach has happened.

To simplify, cyber Insurance is designed to cover the fees, expenses and legal costs associated with cyber breaches that occur after an organization has been hacked or from theft or loss of client/employee information.

 

Patoma Admin by — May 17, 2021 in Insurance 0
AXA France suspends ransomware reimbursement cover in new cyber policies

By admin

AXA France has ceased providing ransomware reimbursement cover when underwriting new cyber policies.

AXA France, AXA’s general insurance business in France, is said to have made the move following French government concerns about the payment of ransoms.

According to a report from AP, AXA said it was suspending the option in response to concerns aired by French justice and cybersecurity officials during a Senate roundtable in Paris last month, about the devastating global epidemic of ransomware. “The word to get out today is that, regarding ransomware, we don’t pay and we won’t pay,” cybercrime prosecutor Johanna Brousse said at the hearing.

AXA said in a statement: “As is standard market practice, we do provide ransomware cover as part of a broader cyber policy. The current cyber insurance market is very challenging, prompting many markets to look carefully at coverage and capacity. We also continue to monitor the evolving regulatory environment regarding ransom payments.

We’re committed to working with our brokers and clients, in addition to regulators, law enforcement, cybersecurity professionals and others, to find appropriate protections and risk mitigation/reduction strategies to meet this evolving landscape.”

A spokesperson told AP that the suspension only applies to France and does not affect existing policies. She said it also does not affect coverage for responding and recovering from ransomware attacks, in which criminals based in safe havens including Russia break into networks, seed malware and cripple them by scrambling data

Patoma Admin by — May 17, 2021 in Insurance 0
Aviation union, join NLC shut down Kaduna Airport

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

Aviation unions under the aegis of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals (ANAP) and National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) today joined the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) shut down Kaduna Airport in compliance with the strike action declared organised labour against  Kaduna State Government.

Kaduna airport workers were seen on Monday barricading the gates of the airports in compliance with the industrial action which started from midnight of Sunday, 16th May 2021 to midnight of Friday, 21st May 2021 and chanting solidarity songs.

According to the union, the reason was not unconnected to flouting the civil service laws and unconstitutional sacking of civil servants before they serve their mandatory 35 years or reach 60 years age limit.

First Deputy National President of NUATE, Comrade Salisu Lawal representing national president said the essence of NUATE joining in the strike is in solidarity to the workers of Kaduna state because an injustice to one is an injustice to all.

“If you are sacking people more than five you have to sit down and negotiate. He first sacked over 2, 500 local government workers and the labour laws state that if you are sacking more than five you have to sit down and talk with them on how to pay redundancy, they didn’t do that.

Comrade Lawal questioned why Kaduna which has one of the highest Internally Generated Reenue (IGR) is refusing to do what is right stating that the solidarity is going to continue till Friday there is another directive from the NLC.

General Secretary, NUATE, Comrade Ocheme Aba, who was in Kaduna to join efforts at the industrial action added,”What is important is when you go home and your wife and children ask why you are doing this you can explain very well.

The Kaduna state government has violated several laws Section 20 of the labour Act provides that if you are going to declare workers redundant compulsory it is first of all you must show good reason why you want to carry out the redundancy and second if you show good reason, and their unions agree with you then you must negotiate their redundancy benefits.

“Don’t forget not terminal benefits but redundancy benefits don’t forget terminal benefits are already established by the conditions of service. That’s not subject to negotiation, you pay the terminal benefit then you pay the negotiated redundancy benefits so he has not done any of that.

“He has violated public service rules that state that a worker is entitled to work for 35 years or till 60 years whichever comes first. He has unilaterally fixed 50 years.

Patoma Admin by — May 17, 2021 in Aviation 0
I was removed over observations in financial records- Ex-NPA board member

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

Former Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Board member, Senator Binta Masi Garba yesterday recounted how she was removed for raising observations over the agency’s financial records.

She alleged that her observations did not go down well with the suspended NPA Managing Director, Ms. Hadiza Bala-Usman.

She alleged that Ms. Bala-Usman decided her removal from the board without the knowledge or recommendation of Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi.

The senator said she met a senior official in the Presidential Villa and advised that the suspended MD be called to order.

In a statement she issued in Abuja yesterday, the senator said suspension of the MD has vindicated him.

She said: “I was appointed into the board of the NPA sometime in March 2020. In January 2021, Sen. John Akpanudoedehe and I were removed from the board and our removal was clearly orchestrated by the now suspended Managing Director (MD) of NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman.

“Before my removal, I was not comfortable with the way the board and authority were run. I consistently expressed my discomfort and displeasure with the way the MD was running the place and this, I have no iota of doubt in my mind made her to orchestrate my removal from the board.

“Note, I was removed without the knowledge of the supervising ministry/minister of Transportation, which was very uncommon.

“My observations and complaints with the suspended NPA MD were more with the financial statements of NPA and I worried that if she continued so, there would certainly be trouble and her sudden removal (suspension) would be inevitable.

”I noted discrepancies, I raised observations, I asked questions, but I was completely ignored and disregarded. Answers were never provided, until my removal was plotted.”

Narrating the genesis of the crisis of confidence between her and the suspended NPA boss, she said: “When the board came in, its first meeting was in June 2020 with the aim of deliberating on the financial report. I made some observations on the report which, obviously, the MD, Hadiza Bala-Usman was not comfortable with.

“At the time, the report covered two years but I objected, pointing out that, under normal circumstances, procedurally and international norms, it should cover a minimum of three years. It was after my objection that the MD grudgingly and resentfully provided the third year’s report. I wasn’t really comfortable.

“I observed more discrepancies with the financials and asked questions about them. The MD was uncomfortable and even felt slighted by the objective comments and questions.

”Scrutinizing the financial reports of the NPA is a very critical and very important aspect of my role and function as a member of its board, appointed by the President. I was not ready to abdicate that core responsibility.

“For me, my board membership of NPA, like every other public office I have held, was a call to serve my country and I was prepared to give it my all.

“But the suspended MD felt offended by my observations, questions, spotting obvious inconsistencies and acted like someone with a lot to hide. Answers were not forthcoming and, when they did, were less than satisfactory.”

Senator Masi said at a point, she contemplated resigning from the board but she was prevailed upon not to disrespect President Muhammadu Buhari.

She said: ”Some members of the board felt I was the only one holding the financial report back. I had to meet with the Minister of Transportation and I told him I wasn’t comfortable with the way and manner the board was being handled and treated by the MD and that I wanted to resign.

”The board chairman, Chief Akin Ricketts (whose removal as board chairman was also orchestrated by the MD) and some other members, prevailed on me not to resign and that, if I did, it would send the wrong signal and would not be good for the President. We settled down to work on it (the financial reports).

”After sometime, my uneasiness did not go away. Again, I met with the Minister of Transportation and told him that I did not want to continue with the board with the way the MD was running the place.”

The senator claimed she took her case to the Presidential Villa but Ms. Bala-Usman.

She said: “I met someone high up in the Presidential Villa and told him my own story and advised that the MD be called to order. I also met and made similar observations and complaints to the then Director-General of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Dr. Nasiru and the then Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transportation, Mallam Zakari.

“Instead of making amends, the suspended MD’s next move was to go against the NPA Act by designing my removal from the board.

“The Act stipulates that it is the minister who should send names of appointees to the board to the President for approval. For someone to unilaterally go against the Act and the minister that brought her on board was rather unfortunate.

“I made it very clear to everyone I spoke with about the situation in NPA, stressing that it was not about me but the system, rules and procedures, as well as the survival of our institutions.

“I could not keep quiet and watch the suspended MD run the NPA aground. I wished she had listened but she didn’t and opted to plot my removal from the board. Unfortunately, I have been vindicated.”

Patoma Admin by — May 17, 2021 in Transportation 0