All Posts in "Day: June 23, 2021"

Sunu announces resignation of CFO, Company Secretary from Sept 7

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

Sunu Assurances Nigeria Plc has announced the resignation of its Chief Financial Officer, Mr Akeem Adamson and Company Secretary, Head of Legal and Chief Compliance Officer, Mr John Akujieze from the service of the company both effective 7th September 2021.

The announcement in a notification to the Nigerian Stock Exchange signed by Samuel Ogbodu, Managing Director/CEO on Wednesday said the resignations were presented and had been accepted by the board of directors.

Akeem Adamson is a graduate of Mechanical Engineering from University of Ilorin.  He proceeded to sit for his ICAN qualification examinations and qualified in 1997. He became a Fellow of the institute in 2007. He is also an Associate of Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN).

He started his working career with Onward Paper Mills as Trainee Engineer in 1990 and thereafter, Volkswagen of Nigeria.

As a Chartered Accountant, he joined Coopers & Lybrand International, now PriceWaterCoopers (PWC) in 1994 as Audit Trainee and rose to the position of Senior Auditor in 1998.

He moved to BDO Oyediran, Faleye, Oke & Co (Chartered Accountants) as an Audit Supervisor from 1998 to 2000; Accat Nigeria Ltd as Financial Controller, 2000 – 2005; Intercontinental Wapic Insurance Plc as Head, Internal Audit, 2007-2009 and in 2011, he joined SUNU Assurances Nigeria Plc as AGM, Accounts.

He has won many awards in the course of his career including MD Award at Intercontinental Wapic Insurance Plc and Coopers & Lybrand International Award. He was also the Best Graduating Student, Mechanical Engineering with First Class Degree and University Scholar, University of Ilorin.

While Akujieze now an outgoing Group Company Secretary, Head Legal & Compliance of SUNU Assurances Nigeria Plc. He has oversight responsibilities in all the company’s subsidiaries and the parent company in the areas of company secretariat, legal, compliance and administration departments.

Before joining SUNU Assurances Nigeria Plc in August 2014, Mr. Akujieze was the Group Head, Corporate Services & Resources in Associated Discount House Limited (Now Coronation Merchant Bank Limited) supervising the company secretariat, human resources, administration, protocol and legal. He spearheaded the transformation of the company from a discount house to a Merchant Bank with the raising of requisite capital and completion of all regulatory and legal requirements.

As the Group Head, Corporate Services & Resources in Associated Discount House Limited, he coordinated the divestment of interest in two subsidiary Companies, resulting in transfer of assets/liabilities and the integration of staff of both Companies with the parent Company. He also developed and enthroned Standard Operating Procedure for the company and other subsidiaries to enhance effective administration of policies and processes.

He had a brief stint with the National Maritime Authority during his compulsory National Youth Service Corps.

Mr. Akujieze holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka with the best graduating result. He also holds a Master’s degree in Law and Business Administration from University of Lagos. He is an Associate of both Chartered Institute of Management and Chartered Institute of Arbitration.

He is a member of the prestigious Apapa Club and Metropolitan Club.

 

Meanwhile, the board had approved the appointment of Mr Theo Lyile acting capacity for CFO and Mrs Taiwo Kuku in acting capacity Company Secretary pending final resolution in this regard.

Patoma Admin by — June 23, 2021 in Insurance 0
AXA agrees with Generali over sale of Malaysian insurance operations for €140m

By admin

 

 

Global insurer AXA has reached an agreement with carrier Generali to sell its insurance operations in Malaysia for €140million.

The agreement which includes its 49.99 percent holding in AXA Affin General Insurance (AAGI) and 49 percent holding in AXA Affin Life Insurance (AALI), for total cash proceeds of €140 million.

Generali has agreed to purchase the majority of the shares held by AXA and Affin in the two joint ventures, approximately 53 percent of AAGI (49.99 percenybfrom AXA and 3 percent from Affin and minorities) and AALI (49% from AXA and 21 percent from Affin), respectively.

Additionally, Generali has filed an application to the local regulator to try to acquire the remaining shares of MPI Generali Insurans Berhad (MPI General) held by its Malaysian joint venture partner, MPHB Capital.

Generali has been active in the region since 2015, when it acquired a 49 percent stake in a P&C insurance subsidiary of Multi-Purpose Capital Holdings to create MPI General.

In total, the consideration for these transactions is €262 million. The agreements are subject to the approval of the Malaysian Minister of Finance and the Central Bank of Malaysia.

Following the transactions, Generali will operate in the country through two firms, one in the P&C arena and one in the Life sector.

Generali notes that within P&C, it intends to merge the businesses of MPI Generali with AAGI. Once completed Generali will hold 70 percent in both the Life and P&C entities, which will trade under the Generali name. The remaining 30% shareholding will be held by Affin Bank.

The transactions set to make Generali one of the leading insurers in the Malaysian marketplace, creating the number two P&C insurer by market share and entering the region’s life insurance market.

The insurer will also enter into an exclusive bancassurance agreement with Affin Bank for the sale of conventional P&C and Life solutions.

The acquisitions are expected to close in the second quarter of 2020, subject to closing conditions, including the receipt of regulatory approvals.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) International, Generali Group, Jaime Anchústegui Melgarejo said, “The transactions are fully aligned with Generali’s strategy to strengthen its leadership position in high potential markets, like Malaysia, which represents a very attractive opportunity as it is home to a growing middle-class population and with an insurance penetration rate that is still relatively low compared to other more mature markets in the Asian region.”

Regional Officer, Generali Asia,  Rob Leonard said, “This is an exciting time for Generali in Malaysia and for our growth strategy in Asia. Over the last five years we have enjoyed working together with our business partner to reshape MPI Generali and now we can further optimise our strategic position, secure economies of scale for more efficient operations and deliver even greater value for our customers.

“We have ambitions to further transform and strengthen our business in this important market and look forward to working with our customers, employees, agents, partners and distributors on this journey.

Patoma Admin by — June 23, 2021 in Insurance 0
Swiss Re targets $75m Vita Capital VI mortality cat bond

By admin

 

 

Global reinsurance company Swiss Re is back in the capital markets in search of protection for its life reinsurance business, with a new Vita Capital VI Limited (Series 2021-1) mortality catastrophe bond deal that aims to secure $75 million or more of extreme mortality protection.

swiss-re-building-imageThis will be the eighth extreme mortality catastrophe bond issuance under Swiss Re’s series of Vita Capital deals.

The reinsurance firm first sought mortality retrocessional reinsurance from the capital markets through a Vita Capital arrangement back in 2003.

The last Vita Capital mortality cat bond was issued in 2015, a $100 million deal that provided Swiss Re with retro reinsurance against excess mortality events in Australia, Canada and the UK and that has now matured.

But Swiss Re also added $80 million of extreme mortality protection into one of its Matterhorn Re series of catastrophe bonds last year, demonstrating its appetite to continue tapping the capital markets for mortality retrocession.

According to our sources, this new Vita Capital mortality cat bond is particularly interesting as deaths due to COVID-19 are excluded for calendar year 2021 under the terms of the deal, but we’re told appear to be included and therefore covered for future years while the deal remains in-force.

Vita Capital VI Limited, a Cayman Islands based special purpose vehicle, will issue a single tranche of Class B notes, currently targeting $75 million of protection for Swiss Re.

The notes will be sold to investors and the proceeds used to collateralize a retro reinsurance arrangement between the special purpose issuance vehicle and Swiss Re itself.

The transaction will provide Swiss Re with excess (or extreme) mortality retrocessional reinsurance protection, based on a mortality index trigger.

As a result, the notes could be triggered by an extreme mortality event that raises the mortality index, which will be weighted by age and gender, above a predefined trigger point.

Meaning that the investors in these notes will be at risk of an increase in age and gender-weighted mortality rates, exceeding a specified percentage of the predefined index across the covered areas.

The covered areas are Australia, Canada, the UK and the United States, we’re told, which is an expansion on the last Vita Capital mortality cat bond from Swiss Re, which did not cover excess mortality in the US.

We understand the mortality retro reinsurance protection will run from the beginning of 2021 to the end of 2025, with the notes maturity slated for early 2026, so providing five years of coverage.

The $75 million of Series 2021-1 Class B notes to be issued by Vita Capital VI Ltd. are said to have an initial attachment probability of 1.06 percent, an initial exhaustion probability of 1.16 percent and an initial expected loss of 0.75 percent

The notes are being marketed with a suggested coupon of 3 percent, were told.

It’s particularly interesting that the notes are said to cover COVID-19 related deaths from 2022 onwards.

With the vaccine program rollouts in the covered countries making rapid headway, the chances of a major excess mortality event from the current pandemic are certainly reducing quickly.

But it will be interesting to see how investors respond to the transaction, as it could provide an example of how the capital markets can be tapped for pandemic reinsurance cover, including against COVID-19 related mortality.

These excess or extreme mortality catastrophe bonds cover rising deaths from a wide range of events, including infectious diseases, pandemics, influenza, terrorism, wars, earthquakes and other risks that could cause a sharp increase in mortality rates in the covered countries.

We’ll update you as this new Vita Capital VI Limited (Series 2021-1) transaction from Swiss Re comes to market and you can read about this and every other catastrophe bond issued in our Artemis Deal Directory.

Patoma Admin by — June 23, 2021 in Insurance 0