BIBA charges insurance brokers to speak out on industry issues

The Chief executive Officer of British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA), Mr Steve White has charged insurance brokers to speak out on issues bothering on the industry.

White at the 2022 BIBA conference said, “While I am sure you don’t mind chipping in to help the system, it is starting to feel that we are bailing out others who do not have the same standards as we do… rather than just chipping in.”

We will commit time and resources to make a strong submission on your behalf. You are driven by a sense of what is right and wrong and the need for fairness. It is only right that we must push back when we feel those values are not being applied to us as an industry.
“We must never be shy to have our voice heard”.

He asserted: “Globally, compensation schemes involving insurance brokers and intermediaries are quite rare. We never mind being leaders, but we must not be left paying over the odds for the failures of others. When the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) produces its consultation paper on possible new approaches to funding compensation, I encourage you all to make your voices heard and respond.

“We will commit time and resources to make a strong submission on your behalf. You are driven by a sense of what is right and wrong and the need for fairness. It is only right that we must push back when we feel those values are not being applied to us as an industry. We must never be shy to have our voice heard. We must continue to speak up for the good of the industry and our customers.”

Meanwhile White also highlighted the crucial role played by insurance brokers.

“It may not be an easy year given the environment you are operating in,” he said, “but I have no doubt your fundamentals will allow you to become even stronger and ensure our customers continue to get the support they, at times, desperately need. You manage risk, but you do it in a way that seeks solutions, not barriers. That is a very good thing. Please never change.”

Over 50 Nigeria insurance brokers was at the BIBA 2022 conference led by the President of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers, NCRIB, Me Rotimi Edu.

The NCRiB Executive Secretary, Mt Tope Adaramola was also at the conference.

Emirates posts $1.1bn loss, moves to improvement

By Favour Nnabugwu
 Emirates Group released its 2021 full-year results, reporting a loss of AED 3.8 billion ($1 billion) on total revenue of AED 66.2 billion ($18.1 billion).
In 2020-2021 (April-March), the group lost AED 22.1 billion ($6 billion) on revenue of AED 35.6 billion ($9.7 billion).
The Emirates result is a vast improvement from last year, with revenue jumping by 86 percent. However, there is still a long way to reach pre-COVID 2018/19 revenue of AED 109 billion and a profit of AED 2.3 billion. The airline closed the financial year with cash assets of AED 20.9 billion ($5.7 billion), 38 percent higher than at March 31, 2021.
Emirates continued to add more passenger and freight capacity during the year. It carried 19.6 million passengers, up from 6.6 million from last year, added its last five Airbus A380 aircraft and invested $2.2 billion in new aircraft.
By the end of March, all of Emirates’ Boeing B777s and half of its A380s had returned to service. Its fleet totaled 262 aircraft with an average age of 8.2 years, and another 197 aircraft, including 30 Boeing B787s, have been ordered.
The airline operates to more than 140 destinations, 29 with A380 aircraft. It reinforced strategic partnerships with Qantas and flydubai, widening travel choices to and from Dubai. Emirates also expanded partnerships with airlines, including Aeromar, airBaltic, Azul Airlines, South African Airways and TAP Air Portugal.
Chairman and chief executive of Emirates, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said this year focused on restoring operations, and the recovery picked up pace in the second half of the year.
“Robust customer demand drove a huge improvement in our financial performance compared to our unprecedented losses of last year and we built up our strong cash balance.”
Sheikh Ahmed expects the group to return to profitability in 2022-23 but is cautious of headwinds that could impact that. These are high fuel prices, inflation, new COVID variants and political and economic uncertainty.
Emirates SkyCargo contributed $5.9 billion or 40 percent of the airline’s transport revenue, a 27 percent increase over 2020/21. Emirates is adding two Boeing 777F Freighters and converting four existing B777-300ER aircraft into freighters, a total investment of $1 billion. The SkyCargo fleet operates ten Boeing B777F aircraft.
As flight and travel activity increased, so did the fortunes of dnata, which turned a profit of AED 110 million ($30 million). Its revenue jumped by 54 percent to $2.3 billion, with 62 percent coming from its international business. dnata saw good growth from airport operations, catering, travel services and its airport hospitality brand, marhaba. The catering arm uplifted more than 39.9 million meals, more than double the last year, as airlines across the world resumed operations.
Emirates has delivered a robust set of numbers, a pattern likely to be repeated as airlines produce their annual reports. Interestingly, everything is compared to 2020/21, which was such a low point that this year’s results were always going to improve.
With borders essentially reopened and travelers returning, the challenge for Emirates is to do better than it did in 2018/19. The coming twelve months will tell where the airline group is headed.
NCC warns car owners of new hacking… Says Honda, Acura  more easy

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has warned car owners in country to cautious of new hacking methods that open car doors and start engines without keys. 

The commission said owners of Honda and Acura car models are more susceptible to this attack. 

The warning contained in the discoveries by the Computer Security Incident Response Team, CSIRT, a cyber security centre established for the telecom sector by the NCC. 

Part of the centre’s report, released by the commission’s Director Public Affairs, Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, alerted telecom consumers and members of the public, particularly, car owners on an ongoing cyber-vulnerability that allows a nearby hacker to unlock vehicles, start their engines wirelessly and make away with the cars.

According to him “”The CSIRT discovered that because car remotes are categorized as short-range devices that make use of radio frequency, RF, to lock and unlock cars, there are immediate dangers in a new hacking method which see hackers take advantage to unlock and start a compromised car”. 

The CSIRT released that the vulnerability is a Man-in-the-Middle attack or, more specifically, a replay attack in which an attacker intercepts the RF signals normally sent from a remote key to the car, manipulates these signals, and resends them later to unlock the car at will. 

 Adinde quoted the CSIRT as saying: “Multiple researchers disclosed a vulnerability, which is said to be used by a nearby attacker to unlock some Honda and Acura car models and start their engines wirelessly. The attack consists of a threat actor capturing the radio frequency (RF) signals sent from your key fob to the car and resending these signals to take control of your car’s remote keyless entry system,” 

“However, when affected, the only mitigation is to reset your key fob at the dealership. The affected car manufacturer may provide a security mechanism that generate fresh codes for each authentication request, this makes it difficult for an attacker to replay the codes thereafter”. 

The commission also advised car users to store their key fobs in signal-blocking ’Faraday pouches’ when not in use. 

It cautioned car owners, especially of Honda and Acura models  to choose Passive Keyless Entry, PKE, as opposed to Remote Keyless Entry RKE, to make it harder for an attacker to read the signal because criminals would need to be at close proximity to carry out their nefarious acts. 

The PKE is an automotive security system that operates automatically when the user is in proximity to the vehicle, unlocking the door on approach or when the door handle is pulled, and also locking it when the user walks away or touches the car on exit. The RKE system, on the other hand, represents the standard solution for conveniently locking and unlocking a vehicle’s doors and luggage compartment by remote control.

Naicom tasks Katsina State citizens to patronise insurers on Takaful, other policies

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

The National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, has launched out to Katsina State on Takaful insurance and the mandatory policies for patronage

Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Olorundare Sunday Thomas told the Governor on Friday that they were in Katsina to partner with the state government on the Takaful insurance for the people in the state to reap it’s benefits.

Thomas who is the Chief Executive Officer of the Naicom said the desire of the commission is to spread it’s dragnet to the state for the farmers and other small and medium scale businesses to take up insurance.

According to him, ““We are committed to the sensitization and enlightenment programme on the numerous benefits of the scheme to enable the poor citizens reap it’s benefits”.

Welcoming the Naicom team to the State, Governor Aminu Bello Masari said he commission has much work to do the enlightenment of the people on the benefits of the scheme.

Masari said the informal sector been the drivers of the economy must be properly sensitized to achieve the commission’s goals in the state-

He further noted that the Takaful, the Islamic form of Insurance to gain ground, the religious leaders and other security agencies must be involved to ensure that the people understand the scheme to enable them reap it’s benefits and succeed.

“If you embark on the sensitization and enlightenment exercise through the religious leaders and others, the programme will receive acceptance amongst the people”.

He however said owing to the benefits of the programme, government would make provision in its annual budget estimates to cater for ensuring that it’s vehicles, buildings and others are insured.

“Involve the Internal Revenue Board, the Police, Road Safety, the Civil Defense, amongst other to make sure that the programme succeed in the state”, he advised.