All Posts in "Day: June 21, 2021"

Emirates re-institutes ban on Nigeria flights, extends South Africa route suspension

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

In less than 48 hours after lifting a ban on Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates (UAE),  Emirates Airline has again suspended flights to and from the West African cities of Lagos and Abuja with effect from June 21 until further notice.

According to the airline, customers travelling to and from Lagos and Abuja will not be accepted for travel, and those who have been to or connected through Nigeria in the last 14 days will not be permitted to board from any other point to the UAE.

“We regret the inconvenience caused, and affected customers should contact their booking agent or Emirates call centre for rebooking,” said the airline. “Emirates remains committed to Nigeria, and we look forward to resuming passenger services when conditions allow.”

Emirates’ also said that flights from South Africa will remain suspended until July 6, in line with government directives that restrict the entry of travellers originating from South Africa, into the UAE.

Daily passenger flights to Johannesburg will operate as EK763, but outbound passenger services on EK 764 remain suspended. Customers who have been to or connected through South Africa in the last 14 days will not be permitted on any Emirates flights bound for Dubai.

The airline had on Saturday announced that it would be resuming flight operations in Nigeria from June 23rd.

The UAE  had refused to fly passengers without a pre-boarding rapid diagnostic test (RTD’s) on Saturday announced a new travel protocol now accepting to carry Nigerian passengers who present negative PCR test results taken within 48 hours before departure.

In Dubai’s official Instagram page on Saturday it announced travel protocol stating that as part of easing inbound travel restrictions, Dubai’s Supreme Court Committee of crisis and disaster management has introduced new entry protocols for passengers effective from 23 June, 2021.

Patoma Admin by — June 21, 2021 in Aviation 0
Australia’s CBA sells general insurance unit to South Africa’s Hollard Group for $468m

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

Commonwealth Bank has concluded plans to sell its Australian general insurance business to South Africa’s biggest privately-owned insurer Hollard Group, for AS625million an equivalent of $468million..

Australia’s largest lender, which over the past few years has offloaded its life insurance and funds management businesses, will sell CommInsure General Insurance, for an upfront cash consideration of A$625 million ($468 million), plus deferred payments, it said.

The transaction is the latest in a series of sales of underperforming insurance assets by the country’s Big Four banks, as they re-focus on local core operations after a series of scandals ramped up regulatory scrutiny on the sector.

CBA’s life insurance arm was slapped with rare criminal charges in 2019 for unsolicited sales calls, after it was sold to Hong Kong-based AIA Group in 2017.

The lender said it expected the sale would deliver a post-tax gain of A$90 million and further increase its common equity tier 1 capital by about A$400 million, which according to analysts ups the odds that CBA will return extra cash to investors.

Investors already expect the bank to announce higher dividends and an off-market buyback of about A$5 billion at its August results.

CBA also expects to get a pre-completion dividend.

“We expect this is the last of the major transactions that CBA is likely to undertake to deliver on this simplification,” Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note.

CBA will continue to earn income on the distribution of home and motor insurance products through a new 15-year alliance with Hollard for the distribution of home and motor vehicle insurance products to the bank’s retail customers in Australia.

The deal is expected to be completed by mid-2022 and comes just months after smaller peer Westpac sold its general insurance arm to German insurer Allianz for A$725 million.

Shares in CBA, Australia’s most expensive banking stock, were down 4.5% on Monday, underperforming the broader financial sector that was also 3.4% lower, as hawkish comments by the Federal Reserve last week hurt stocks across Asia

Patoma Admin by — June 21, 2021 in Insurance 0
Leadway Assurance pay N92bn claims in 5 years

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

Leadway Assurance has over the laast five years settled claims of over N92 billion, representing N18.4bn per every year on average.

The company in a statement sighted on the company’s website disclosed that over have solid financial reputation to pay its claims as at when due tag ‘Easy Claims Settlement with stress-free and seamless’. 

The report further disclosed that the Leadway have an asset base of over N270 billion. “We remain Nigeria’s strongest insurer.”

The management proudly said “We tell no stories when you make claims, we pay immediately your claim is verified. Our customer service representatives are always available to attend to your inquiries.”

The benefits to Our customers are well details:

Payment of accumulated amount, upon survival to the end of the policy term.

Payment of accumulated amount at the time of claim and the life cover sum assured is payable should death occur during policy term

Optional benefit includes payment of sum assured plus accumulated amount (as at time of a claim) in the event of accident leading to disability cover by the policy or illness covered by the policy.

The company said “In line with our resolve to ensure easy and timely resolution of your claims’ request, please see below our target timeline for the settlement of your claims.

Patoma Admin by — June 21, 2021 in Insurance 0
Insurers settled $1.62bn claims on Feb M7 Fukushima, Japan earthquake

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

The General Insurance Association of Japan, GIAJ, said losses from the Magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck off the coast of the Fukushima region of Japan on February 13th 2021 with the loss to the insurance and reinsurance industry now reaching JPY 178,238,374, which represents US $1.62 billion.

The latest data from the GIAJ counts claims from member companies of the General Insurance Association of Japan and the Foreign Non-Life Insurance Association of Japan, as of May 14th.

The $1.62 billion of insurance and reinsurance market losses from this earthquake is now far above where estimates had sat after the event.

Initially, reports had suggested this earthquake in Japan may have driven a few hundred million dollars of claims.

Then, back in March, the General Insurance Association of Japan, said that 141,166 claims had been counted from the quake, with around 6,583 paid out as of the middle of the month, amounting to roughly US $36 million at the time.

A little later, in early April, the CRESTA organisation revealed that it believed the M7.0 earthquake in Japan could end up having billion dollar industry loss potential the highest forecast yet for this event.

As of the end of March, bthevGIAJ updated it’s numbers as the total amount of claims paid approached US900 million or almost JPY 95 billion.

Then we reported again that the GIAJ had lifted the claims total to just over US $1.26 billion, or almost JPY 138.28 billion, as of April 16th, based on 221,994 claims that had been filed, with 165,866 settled and 133,359 claims payments made.

The latest data shows that as of May 14th 2021, 259,525 claims had been filed from this earthquake event, with 216,638 settled and 176,402 payments made.

As ever, it’s important to note that this does not include the full international insurance and reinsurance market exposure to this earthquake event.

Some international carriers are not counted, while other forms of protection that are backed by the insurance and reinsurance industry also may not be counted in it.

As we explained just last week,this February earthquake off the Fukushima coast of Japan actually trigged a parametric insurance product for a manufacturibg company.

Which shows that there can be more limit at risk from the international insurance and reinsurance market than that counted in typical Japanese property policies.

Interestingly, as of this latest update on the quake, claims paid in Japan’s Miyagi prefecture have overtaken those in Fukushima prefecture itself.

Miyagi prefecture now accounts for almost US $780 million of the claims from the earthquake, while Fukushima prefecture accounts for almost US $742 million.

Some reinsurance capital support has helped to pay claims from this earthquake in Japan, as our sources suggested a portion has fallen to reinsurers working in partnership with major Japanese insurers.

Patoma Admin by — June 21, 2021 in Insurance 0
Nigeria falls below average in salary to Acturials

By Favour Nnabugwu

After South Africa, Gabon, Côte D’Ivoire, Cameroon, Senegal, Kenya, Tunisia, Morocco, Nigeria falls below average in renumeration to acturials, according to countries in Africa

In the continent, the worse paid salaries to acturials are Egypt, Tanzania and Ethiopia

In Nigeria, salary of a beginner is
9,120 USD salary on the average acturial is 18 600 USD while the salary of a confirmed actuarial is put at  27, 160 USD and an average compensation per hour is 9 USD

In South Africa, actuaries have the highest salaries on the continent. Gabon comes second with an average annual salary of 31 000 USD..

In the Middle East, actuaries are the highest paid in the United Arab Emirates. They are paid an average of almost 102 000 USD per year, 2 to 3 times more than the average wage in other countries of the region.

The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) announced plans to raise 100 actuarial analysts in the next five years, who will help to enhance the growth of the insurance sector.

The Commission has already commerce with sponsorship of 60 Acturials.

The Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Sunday Thomas said allexpenses of the course and examination would be fully funded by the commission and offered at no cost to the selected participants.

“Part of our plans is that within the next five years, we want to produce at least 100 Certified Actuarial Analyst and we will take responsibility for the commitment.

“We must analyse our job, role and the need to change our focus on how to develop the market and ensure compliance to regulatory policies .

“Part of the development is the human capital development, as the growing potential of the industry is built on the capacity to have the required capital that will drive it forward.

“The issue of measuring and taking necessary step for effective pricing has made the Actuarial profession to be more pertinent more than ever before .

“There is need to develop young professionals and give them a future in the insurance industry and we are determined to develop their potentials and make them relevance to the sector, “he posited.

According to him, “Only a couple of the Insurance companies have an in-house Actuaries and this is why the commission has intervened to stem the tide”.

Thomas said Actuaries are also needed to manage the Annuity business which was becoming quite significance and almost accounting to 35 to 40 per cent in the industry portfolio with a output of 10 trillion .

He urged the potential beneficiaries to be committed to the programme to succeed ,as the commision would only give candidates the opportunity to re -write a failed course twice.

“This programme requires sharp, determined, qaulitative minded and serious individuals, so think critically about it before opting for it.

“We are ready to give you all the necessary support and will persuade the Chief Executive Officers of the Insurance companies to give the candidates adequate time to study, ” he said.

The salary of an actuary varies from one country to another and from one area of expertise to another.

High levels of remunerations are accounted for by several factors: The profile which is demanded by not only insurers but also by all banking and financial management institutions.

The demand which is above supply.
The knowledge which is essential to finance and insurance companies.

In the insurance sector, the new prudential standards imposed notably by Solvency II made these experts the preferred players in the area of corporate governance (underwriting, reserve management, control, etc).

In Germany, this salary can amount to 76 000 USD. With 10 to 15 years of experience, these amounts can exceed 90 000 USD in France and 110 000 USD in Germany and double or even triple that amount in team leader positions.

In the United States, the average remuneration is approximately 121 000 USD. With an experience of more than 15 years, the annual salary can well exceed 150 000 USD.

Actuaire salaireIn France, the average annual salary of a junior actuary is 63 000 USD.

According to Salary Expert website, actuaries in Switzerland receive the highest remunerations. Recently-hired staff kick start their career with an income of 95 000 USD.

After a few years of experience, their salary exceeds 137 000 USD, reaching 170 000 USD after more than 20 years of professional experience.

Patoma Admin by — June 21, 2021 in Insurance 0