All Posts in "Month: August 2021"

Insurance for places of worship: how are churches, mosques covered?

Insurance places worship
The risk is even more important when it comes to a historical monument. Due to the aging of buildings and the cost of maintenance, which is sometimes exorbitant, safety standards are not always easy to comply with.

Who is held responsible for an incident in a place of worship? What guarantees can be underwritten in order to protect oneselves? Atlas Magazine seeks to shed light on the insurance problems of these places.

Insurance for places for worship
Generally speaking, places of worship are the property of the state, municipalities, religious organizations or cultural communities. Even if the State or its territorial divisions are not always owners, the management of these places is often their responsibility.

When the state owns a religious establishment and uses it for its own account, it generally cannot be insured. The state is said to be its own insurer. Nevertheless, an insurance policy may happen to be subscribed for objects of great value: relics, statues, paintings, books of great historical value, etc.

In some cases, religious institutions are not state-owned. In this case except derogation, they are subject to common law. A third party liability insurance policy may be required. Places of worship are therefore required to get insured against: property damage &i Liabilities

Property damage insurance in places of worship

On the occurrence of an event, the owner of the premises or the one who has its custody may be held liable for damages. It is therefore up to him to repair the material damage caused by any disaster. Hence the need to underwrite a property damage coverage of multi-risk type with fire as the main guarantee.

This insurance guarantee covers fire of the building, the furniture, the equipment existing in the religious establishment. Theft, water damage, glass breakage, weather-related damage (hail, snow, storm), etc. can also be added.

Additional guarantees such as attack, interruption of activity, criminal defense and recourse can also be underwritten.

Third party liability insurance in places of worship

A building can be rented to a community or association that makes of it a place of worship. In this case, the liability for an accident can be sought either with the tenant or with the owner depending on the nature of the accident.

Example: a roof collapse of a place of worship is more the responsibility of the owner than that of the tenant. On the other hand, the responsibility of the latter can be sought in the event of a loss or damage occurring inside the place of worship following the use of dangerous products.

The tenant and the owner therefore should rather cover their liabilities that depend on environment, the place of worship and location (example: place of worship inside a residential building, in a shopping mall, etc.).

The different liabilities can be summarized as follows:

The responsibility of the tenant or the occupant with regard to the owner.
ordinary rental risks: building, furniture, equipment, additional rental risks (possibly)
disturbance of possession loss of rent
Tenant’s right of recovery, Tenant’s liability towards neighbors and third parties.The owner’s liability towards the tenant or the occupant Tenant’s right of recovery
disturbance of possession

 

Patoma Admin by — August 20, 2021 in Insurance 0
AM Best notes US captive flexibility, control as commercial peers outperformed

By admin

 

A new AM Best report indicates the operating performance of rated US captive insurers continued to surpass that of their commercial market peers in 2020, alongside emerging areas of growth, due to COVID-19-fueled market conditions.

Analysts explain how captives’ inherent flexibility and control in managing risk drives profitability and retain earnings while simultaneously creating value for policyholders and stakeholders, regardless of market conditions.

In 2020, AM Best-rated US captives reported another strong year, with a pretax operating income of $942 million, down modestly from the $1.01 billion reported in 2019, but still strong—particularly when compared with the results of the commercial casualty peer composite.

Additionally, analysts note how the five-year average combined ratio of 83.4 outstripped the 107.7 of their commercial counterparts by a wide margin.

Year over year, the AM Best-rated US captives recorded a 4.1-percentage point improvement on their combined ratio to 97.9 in 2020.

Overall, between 2016 and 2020, captives added $3.4 billion to their year-end surplus while returning $5.2 billion in stockholder and policyholder dividends, representing $8.6 billion in insurance cost savings that captives retained for their own organizations by not purchasing coverage from third parties in the commercial market.

With the hardened commercial insurance market and increased cost of reinsurance, captives are balancing risk appetites with self-insurance savings to determine whether or by how much to increase net retentions or to participate in the reinsurance tower to manage costs.

The report states that captives continue to explore coverages for employee benefits and medical stop loss, as well as in writing traditional lines of business where rates have climbed following catastrophe losses or those with ongoing uncertainty related to COVID-19; for example, directors and officers, errors and omissions and commercial auto liability insurance.

Overall, captive insurers remain nimble and stable despite persistently low interest rates and the recent turbulence in equities.

Captives also tend to stay away from alternative investment strategies despite the low interest rate environment.

Patoma Admin by — August 20, 2021 in Insurance 0
AJ Gallagher to buy WTW reinsurance business for $3.25bn

By admin

 

AJ Gallagher has announced an agreement to acquire the treaty reinsurance brokerage operations of Willis Towers Watson (WTW) in a deal that is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2021.

For the year ended 31 December 2020, these operations generated $745m of estimated pro forma revenue and $265m of estimated pro forma EBITDAC

Gallagher will acquire the combined operations for an initial gross consideration of $3.25bn, and potential additional consideration of $750m subject to certain third-year revenue targets.

The acquisition of Willis’s reinsurance business was originally part of the failed bid by Aon to acquire WTW. Aon hoped that by selling off the reinsurance business it would satisfy regulatory concerns but in the end it was not enough.

“Broadening our reinsurance brokerage offerings has been a strategic objective at Gallagher and this acquisition will significantly enhance our global value proposition,” said J Patrick Gallagher, Jr, Chairman, President and CEO.

“We were very impressed with the Willis Towers Watson reinsurance professionals we met during our initial due diligence and strongly believe a combination will significantly enhance our offerings to clients and prospects. I look forward to welcoming the 2,200 new colleagues joining us as part of this transaction to our growing Gallagher family of professionals,” he added.

Gallagher listed the benefits of the acquisition to include:

Expanded global value proposition within reinsurance brokerage
A broad suite of analytics capabilities including actuarial services, catastrophe modelling, dynamic financial analysis, rating agency analysis and capital modelling
Addition of talented management team
Increased product breadth & offerings
Further leveraging of Gallagher’s industry-leading alternative risk and ILS business; and,  Strengthened relationships with major insurance carriers.

Willis Re’s treaty reinsurance business operates in 24 countries, places over $10bn of premium annually and represents over 750 insurance and reinsurance company clients.

The US-based broker said that integration is expected to take approximately three years with total non-recurring integration costs estimated to be approximately $250m.

Patoma Admin by — August 18, 2021 in Insurance 0
AXA Singapore to be acquired by HSBC for $575 m

By admin

 

Global insurer AXA has entered into an agreement with HSBC Insurance (Asia-Pacific) Holdings Ltd over the sale of AXA Insurance Pte Ltd (AXA Singapore) for a total cash consideration of USD 575 million (€487mn).

axa-logoIt was reported back in January that British bank HSBC Holdings was among the shortlisted bidders for AXA’s Singapore operations.

AXA Singapore is a composite insurance carrier, offering L&S, Health, and P&C solutions to ca. 1 million clients. In Singapore, the firm is ranked as 8th in the life insurance sector with a 2% market share, and 5th in the P&C space, with a 4% market share.

The sale of AXA Singapore to HSBC is estimated to result in a negative net income impact of ca. €160 million in AXA Group’s FY 2021 consolidated financial results.

Gordon Watson, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AXA in Asia and in Africa, commented: “This transaction is another step in AXA’s simplification journey.

“In line with the Group’s strategy, we are focusing on our core markets where we have the size,

presence in the right business segments and a strong potential to grow. We have in Asia a unique set of assets across established and high potential markets where we are deploying our vision, notably in health and protection, bringing high value products and services to our customers.

“I would like to thank the management team and all the employees of AXA Singapore for their strong contribution and commitment over the years and wish them every success for the future.”

The deal remains subject to closing conditions and is expected to close by the fourth quarter of 2021.

Patoma Admin by — August 18, 2021 in Insurance 0
Allianz Life Bermuda fined $1.7m by Bermuda Monetary Authority

By admin

Allianz Life Bermuda has been fined $1.7m for significant breaches of anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regulations, and is to go into liquidation.

The Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) said it has imposed civil penalties totalling $1,700,000 on Allianz Life Bermuda “pursuant to sections 20 and 24A of the Proceeds of Crime (Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Supervision and Enforcement) Act 2008 and section 32A of the Insurance Act 1978 with respect to significant breaches of the Proceeds of Crime (Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing) Regulations 2008, International Sanctions Regulations 2013 and longstanding and persistent breaches of the Insurance Act.”

The BMA said the company has accepted its findings and has consented to and paid the civil penalties, and has further agreed to continue with its plan to cancel its registration under the Insurance Act and commence liquidation proceedings.

Allianz Life Bermuda was incorporated in Bermuda in 1976 and licensed as an insurer since 1981, and holds a Class 3 licence and Long-Term Class C licence. It was engaged in the insurance and reinsurance of life and long-term risks, which were written outside of Bermuda.

The BMA said: “The civil penalties have been imposed for the company’s failure to adequately comply with the following requirements of the regulations and the sanctions: i) regulation 16 – systems; ii) regulations 5 and 6 – customer due diligence; iii) regulation 8 – timing of verification; iv) regulation 7 – ongoing monitoring; v) regulation 11 – enhanced due diligence; vi) regulation 14a – outsourcing; vii) regulation 17a – independent audit functions; and viii) sanctions – reporting requirements.”

It added that while it found no evidence of money laundering or terrorist financing, the BMA required the company to remediate the findings within a prescribed time period, but this was not completed to the satisfaction of the Authority.

“The Authority views these breaches as serious because of their extent and duration, and because they demonstrated a weakness of the company’s controls to ensure full compliance with the regulations and sanctions,” said the BMA.

“The company has demonstrated a pattern of non-compliance with the Insurance Act, which contributed, in part, to the company’s failure to have a resident director in Bermuda at all times, no regular Bermuda decision-making meetings nor management to ensure that the company’s annual filings under the Insurance Act were accurate, adequate and timely,” said the BMA.

“Further, the Authority determined that the company’s corporate administration was not being carried on with the professional skills appropriate to the nature, scale and complexity of its activities.”

Patoma Admin by — August 18, 2021 in Insurance 0
Emirates Rolls Out Special Airbus A380 Livery to celebrate UAE @ 50

By admin

Emirates has rolled out a special Airbus A380 livery to celebrate 50 years of the United Arab Emirates.

The Airbus is one of a collection of aircraft from both the A380 and 777 families that are due to get the livery to recognize the country’s significant milestone.

Emirates is no stranger to placing special liveries on its aircraft. To celebrate the 2020 world expo in Dubai, many of its jets were adorned with yellow, green, and blue dots. Meanwhile, when a world record for the most nationalities on a flight was smashed, this led to a special livery too.

50 years of the United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates was founded on December 2nd, 1971. The country was initially founded with six of the seven Emirates that it consists of today, with Ras al-Khaimah joining on January 10th, 1972. As one of the country’s flag carriers, Emirates doesn’t want to let the special milestone pass without celebration.

So far, one of the airline’s Airbus A380 aircraft has been adorned with the special 50 years livery. A6-EVG first flew with the livery yesterday, visiting Frankfurt Airport. The German aviation hub seems popular for first A380 flights, with A6-EVN making its first passenger flight to the airport a couple of months ago.

According to data from ch-aviation.com, this Airbus A380 was delivered to Emirates on June 18th, 2019. Having made its first flight on October 18th, 2018, the plane is 2.83 years old, with a current market value listed at $78.39 million. Since delivery, the aircraft has operated 5,063 flight hours across 635 flight cycles as of March 31st.

Emirates isn’t going to stop with one plane when it comes to the 50 years celebration. The airline revealed that the livery would be applied to a number of its aircraft from the Boeing 777 and Airbus A380 families.

The livery is based on the color gold, as 50 years marks a golden jubilee. The words United Arab Emirates 50 are posted on the side of the plane, one side in English and one side in Arabic. The word Emirates is the same design that features on the airline’s other aircraft. Meanwhile, the logo designed to recognize 50 years is contained within the zero of 50.

Patoma Admin by — August 18, 2021 in Aviation 0
Ivory Coast: Insurance market grows by 6% to over US$740m in 2020

By admin

 

The insurance market in Ivory Coast posted a total turnover of FCFA415bn ($743m) in 2020, with the non-life sector accounting for FCFA232bn (56 percent) and the life sector, FCFA183bn (44 percent).

With these figures, the Ivorian insurance market is approaching the standards of the major insurance markets where life insurance dominates the industry ahead of non-life insurance, according to Mr Mamadou GK Kone, chairman of the Association of Insurance Companies of Ivory Coast (ASACI).
In an exclusive interview with Financial Afrik, he said, ”The market has achieved, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, a growth rate of 6 percent including 8.6 percent for the life branch and 4% for the non-life branch. We can therefore see that the life branch grew faster in 2020 than the non-life branch. This is not an isolated trend insofar as, over the last 10 years, the life branch has experienced an average annual growth rate of 9 percent against 8% for the non-life branch.”

The insurance penetration rate in Ivory Coast is 1.3 percent. Mr Kone said, “It is very low compared to the enormous potential for growth in insurance premiums in the country. The penetration rate is around 10 percent in countries like France and 13 percent for South Africa due to pension insurance. We are at 1.3 percent and there is no need to say that the gap is huge.”

Ivory Coast has 32 insurance companies operating in it, comprising 11 life insurers and 21 non-life insurers.

Patoma Admin by — August 18, 2021 in Insurance 0
47th AIO: LOC follows template, Covid-19 protocols for General Assembly/Confab

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

Twenty-one years after the country hosted the African Insurance h General Assembly/conference is again set to host the 47th AIO with all Covid-19 protocols duly followed.and  guided by the organisation’s template

The event which will take place at Eko Hotels & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos with delegate from over 50 countries.

Chairman, Local Organising Committee (LOC) of AIO 2021, Mrs. Ebelechukwu Nwachukwu, during the virtual press conference, said the conference was scheduled to hold last year, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the AIO Secretariat in conjunction with the local organising committee decided to hold it this year as a hybrid event to cater for those who will not be able to attend physically.

“We need to emphasize that in planning this conference at this time we have taken full cognizance of all the health protocols and restrictions on public gathering, hence the decision to make it a hybrid event.

“To give further impetus to this decision, we are limiting the number of physical attendees while others are being encouraged to take advantage of the virtual conference toparticipate from their different locations. For physical attendees, all COVID-19 protocols will be observed and implemented to the letter,” she said.

Mrs. Nwachukwu maintained that the LOC has carefully followed the template provided by AIO Secretariat in planning the conference, whilst assuring that they are prepared to host the best and most memorable conference.

She thanked the Commissioner for Insurance, Olorundare Sunday Thomas who has been working assiduously and liaising with the various ministries and agencies to ensure that the organisers get the full support from the government.

“The Honourable Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning has also been very supportive of our efforts, and we owe her a lot of appreciation for the letter of comfort which was the first requirement from AIO as proof that we have the support of the government to host the conference,” she posited.

According to her, one of the major highlights of the 47th Conference will be the assumption of office by the immediate past Chairman of the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) and Group managing Director of NEM Insurance Plc, Tope Smart as the next president of the pan African organisation for the next one year, adding that he deserves the support and good wishes of all insurance operators.

“There is no doubt that COVID-19 pandemic had left in its trail, very debilitating effects on many economies and there are efforts at addressing these challenges. This informed the decision of the LOC to use the opportunity of the 47th AIO conference to contribute to discussions around how insurance can contribute to ongoing efforts at rebuilding economies seriously impacted by the pandemic.

“The above informed the theme of this year’s conference which is: Rebuilding Africa’s Economy: An Insurance Perspective. We also have four other subtopics to address other contemporary issues affecting the insurance industry and they include the following: The new normal: How leaders can reset for growth beyond COVID-19. Regulation, innovation and the future of insurance. Harnessing the potential for growth and development in the Nigerian insurance marketn and AfCFTA and the African Insurer: Prospects and Opportunities,” she submitted.

She remarked that the LOC, is working in cohort with the AIO Secretariat has assembled a strong faculty to deliver the different papers from the main conference theme to the sub-topics, adding that the the resource persons include Jakkie Cilliers of the Institute of Security Studies, South Africa; Belhassen Tanat of Munich Re.; Yinka Sanni of Standard Bank Group and Tawiah Ben-Ahmed of Metropolitan Life Insurance, Ghana.

She maintained that the AIO conference will also include the Life Seminar and all related activities, stressing that the hosting of the AIO conference is significant to insurers. “Apart from the opportunity to showcase our rich culture and hospitality, it will also be a great opportunity to correct some of the misconceptions about Nigeria and her people,” she added.

Patoma Admin by — August 17, 2021 in Insurance 0
Nigeria’s unclaimed dividends increase to N170bn

The

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday said the total unclaimed dividends in the Nigerian capital market stood at N170 billion as of December 2020.

The Director-General, SEC, Mr Lamido Yuguda, said this at the second post-Capital Market Committee (CMC) virtual news conference.

Yuguda said the figure had increased compared with N158.44 billion total unclaimed dividends as of December 2019
He attributed the rising figure to identity management and multiple subscriptions of investors.

“We have problems with identity management in the Nigerian capital market and this is really one of the things the commission is trying to resolve.

“We have set up a high powered committee to look at the issue, people bought shares under false names and multiple subscriptions.
There is a problem with the process but there is a problem with us too as people because if you are buying securities using your own wealth; why will you use another persons name, why will you use a name that will not be traceable to you?

“This became an issue after the introduction of BVN because BVN is tied to only one name,” Yuguda said.

He noted that the commission constituted a Committee on Identity Management for the Nigerian Capital Market in June in order to address the unclaimed dividend issue.

The committee is chaired by Mr Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede and is expected to harmonise various databases of investors, and facilitate data accuracy in the market.

“We are optimistic that the outcome of this committee’s assignment would address the challenges of identity management and help resolve some of the issues we face in the areas of unclaimed dividend, direct cash settlement and multiple subscription,” he added.

On the Electronic Dividend Mandate Management System (e-DMMS) portal, Yuguda said the total number of mandated and approved accounts from its inception in 2016 to July 2021 stood at 1,144,970.
He explained that the COVID-19 pandemic affected the registration exercise.

Yuguda said members of the CMC had adopted some measures to increase the number of mandated investors on the e-DMMS and reduce the quantum of unclaimed dividends in the market.

He listed the measures as; automation for mandating to e-DMMS, increased monitoring of adherence to procedures and increased awareness campaigns on the initiative.
Yuguda added that a training session would be organised by the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS); to be supported by the e-DMMS technical committee, Institute of Capital Market Registrars (ICMR) and Association of Securities Dealing Houses of Nigeria.

He said a study to determine the suitability of the CSCS to process dividends of investors in unlisted companies would also be conducted

Patoma Admin by — August 14, 2021 in Banking & Finance 0
Mutual Benefit Assurance total assets hit N82.87bn in 2020

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc has sai the company’s total assets rise by 22 percent to N82.87 billion in 2020 from N67.78 billion in 2019, following the capital injection of N4.80 billion

The company also recorded 70 per cent rise in total equity from N14.53 billion in 2019 to N24.69 billion in 2020 while it generated N19.98 billion gross premium written in 2020, which amounted to a growth of the seven per cent.

The Chairman of the Company, Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi, disclosed this at the company’s 25th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held virtualy, adding that in spite the headwinds posed by COVID-19 pandemic, the group gross premium written (GPW) moved from N18.70 billion in 2019 to N19.98 billion in 2020.

He said the performance was largely driven by a 12 per cent growth in the firm’s non-life insurance business, which moved from N10.17 billion in 2019 to N11.35 billion in 2020.

Dr. Ogunbiyi maintained that the group also recorded a five per cent increase in net premium income from N15.29 billion in 2019 to N16.08billion in 2020.

He posited that an adverse claims experience resulted in a 32 per cent decline in underwriting profit, from N5.40 billion in 2019 to N3.68 billion in 2020.

The MBA Plc Chairman, noted that the drop in underwriting profit was offset by impressive investing activities and improved cost controls, leading to a 34 per cent rise in Profit before Tax..

Ogunbiyi said 2021 presents another opportunity to consolidate on the tremendous feats made towards becoming the one-stop shop for provision of financial services solutions in all the company’s countries of operations.

He maintained that even as the business environment remains challenging due to economic uncertainty, the firm’s diversified business model, strong capital position and highly qualified and committed
employees, provide the solid base for profitable and resilient growth.

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Patoma Admin by — August 14, 2021 in Insurance 0