A M. Best affirms Continental Re bbb- rating

CAPTION:

The Group Managing Director of Continental Reinsurance Plc, Mr Lawrence Mutsunge Nazare

 

 

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

 

AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of B+ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of “bbb-” (Good) of Continental Reinsurance Plc (CRe) the operating holding company of the Continental Re group of companies. The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.

The ratings reflect CRe’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, neutral business profile and marginal enterprise risk management.

CRe’s balance sheet strength is underpinned by risk-adjusted capitalisation at the strongest level, as measured by Best’s Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR). The company’s risk-adjusted capitalisation benefits from a relatively conservative investment strategy by asset class, although invested assets are somewhat concentrated in Nigeria and Kenya, which are both subject to high financial system risk.

Volatility of CRe’s risk-adjusted capitalisation in recent years is due to rapid business growth and has been a further offsetting factor. The company has taken steps to improve its capital management capabilities; however, its effectiveness will be tested over time as the company grows. Prospectively, if capital management is unsuccessful and there is sustained erosion of risk-adjusted capitalisation, there will be negative rating pressure.

CRe’s adequate operating performance assessment reflects its modest overall profitability and volatile underwriting performance, as demonstrated by its five-year (2017-2021) weighted average combined ratio of 99.3%, which ranged between 95.4% and 105.9% over this period. Underwriting results have been negatively impacted by the company’s high expense ratio, although a positive trend can be observed in recent years as the company benefits from economies of scale, with the expense ratio declining from a high of 65.2% in 2016 to 43.5% in 2021.

Overall operating profitability has been consistently positive, albeit fairly modest when factoring in elevated inflation across the company’s key operating markets. The company reported a five-year (2017-2021) weighted average return-on-equity ratio of 11.1%.

CRe is a composite reinsurer with a presence across more than 50 countries in Africa, although premium volumes are somewhat concentrated in Nigeria and Kenya. The company has an ambitious growth strategy focused on growing its core business and expanding in other markets with attractive growth and profitability potential

Inflation rate rises to 21.47% in November 

By Favour Nnabugwu
The annual inflation rate has risen the high in 17 years having rose for the 10th consecutive month to 21.47% in November from 21.09 per cent in October.
Thus the annual (headline) inflation rate has risen by 5.87 percentage points in 10 months from 15.6 per cent in February
The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, disclosed this in its Consumer Price Index, CPI report for November.
The NBS said: “In November 2022, on a year–on- year basis, the headline inflation rate was 21.47%. This was 6.07% points higher compared to the rate recorded in November 2021, which was 15.40%. This means that in the month of November 2022, the general price level was 6.07% higher relative to November 2021.
“On a month-on-month basis, the Headline inflation rate in November 2022 was 1.39%, this was 0.15% higher than the rate recorded in October 2022 (1.24%). This means that in the month of November 2022, the general price level was 0.15% higher relative to October 2022.
“The percentage change in the average CPI for the twelve months period ending November 2022 over the average of the CPI for the previous twelve months period was 18.37%, showing a 1.39% increase compared to 16.98% recorded in November 2021. The Increases were recorded in all COICOP divisions that yielded the Headline index.”
On the  likely factors responsible for the increase in the monthly inflation rate, the NBS said: “(Month-on-month basis). The increase in the monthly inflation rate can be attributed to the sharp increase in demand usually experience during the festive season.”
The NBS attributed the increase in the annual inflation rate (Year-on-Year basis) to two factors namely: “ Increase in cost of importation due to the persistent currency depreciation; and  General increase in the cost of production e.g increase in energy cost.”
The NBS stated further that, On a year-on-year basis, in the month of November 2022, the urban inflation rate was 22.09%, this was 6.17% higher compared to the 15.92% recorded in November 2021.
On a month-on-month basis, the urban inflation rate was 1.50% in November 2022, this was 0.16% higher compared to October 2022 (1.33%). The corresponding twelve-month average for the urban inflation rate was 18.90% in November 2022. This was 1.35% higher compared to the 17.55% reported in November 2021.
“The rural inflation rate in November 2022 was 20.88% on a year-on-year basis; this was 5.99% higher compared to 14.89% recorded in November 2021. On a month-on-month basis, the rural inflation rate in November 2022 was 1.30%, up by 0.14% compared to October 2022 (1.16%).
The corresponding twelve-month average for the rural inflation rate in November 2022 was 17.88%. This was 1.46% higher compared to the 16.42% recorded in November 2021.”
Waica Re begins 2023 ESG competition

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

 

Waica Re is organizing the 2023 edition of its annual ESG competition under the theme: “Practical Solutions to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Related Risks in West Africa”.

The event is open to individuals, teams and corporate entities in West Africa.

Participants must write an essay describing a project that addresses at least one of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Interested parties are invited to submit their applications by e-mail to: esg@waicare.com, by 31 March 2023 at the latest.

At the award ceremony, the jury will select the top three winners. The winner will be designated Waica Re Ambassador (WRA) for a period of one year and will receive a cash prize of 5 000 USD.

The 2nd and 3rd runners-up will be awarded 2 500 USD and 1 000 USD respectively.

The winning project’s amount must not exceed 100 000 USD and must be implemented within nine months.

WAICA Reinsurance Corporation Plc is a public limited liability company incorporated under the laws of Sierra Leone (Companies Act 2009) on 7th March 2011. In the years following the creation of West African Insurance Companies Association (WAICA) in 1973, the founding fathers had the desire to establish a reinsurance organisation to help mitigate the effects of the lack of reinsurance capacity within the West African insurance industry.

To fulfill this ambition, the founding fathers considered it prudent to start off by creating a reinsurance pool which hopefully will someday metamorphose into a fully fledged reinsurance corporation. Today, the WAICA Reinsurance Pool has turned into WAICA Reinsurance Corporation Plc, a dream come true.

The main objective of the company is to provide reinsurance services to the insurance sector in West Africa and other regions. In broad terms, the objectives of the company include: 1. To effectively and efficiently manage the business of reinsurance, primarily though not exclusively, across the sub region; 2. To achieve excellence in our management systems and standards by employing best practices through an efficient and responsive management and an empowered and highly motivated work force; 3. To create enhanced value for our shareholders and other stakeholders.

Banks begin closure of accounts of unregistered associations, societies

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

Banks have began closure of unregistered association and societies in the country domiciled in their respective banks pursuant to a directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria to that effect

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had recently directed that all Community Based Association bank accounts opened without Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC Certificate be closed on or before July 12, 2022.

It further directed any Association, Club, Town Union, Age Grade, Foundation, or Church account affected to register with CAC and get a Corporate Affairs Commissions (CAC) Certificate which will enable them run their bank account freely without hindrance.

In view of this directive, some banks proceeded to notify their customers of the development and urged them to take steps to regularize such affected accounts.

One of such banks, Access Bank PLC in an earlier notice to its customers, had informed that it shall begin the process of closing such accounts from the 12th of July, 2022.

One of such mails read:

“Dear Esteemed Partner, Following CBN’s directive on unregistered Community Savings Accounts, please be advised that all associations or societies are expected to provide their registration documents on or before July 12th, 2022. All accounts regularized by this date will be closed accordingly.”

On other issues relating to such unregistered accounts such as migration of funds, retrieval of money etc.

The bank notifies customers that funds on closed accounts cannot be migrated or transferred and that the registration of the Association is precedent to any further action that would have been taken on the account

The reason of this directive from the Apex financial regulator, the CBN is yet to be verified by TheNigeriaLawyer at the time of filing this report even as we observed a surge in the volume of intending CAC registrations by Associations for the purpose of escaping the CBN’s order.

JAMB remits N50bn to FG…expends N750m on CSR – Prof. Oloyede

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

 

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has remitted N50 billion to the federal government’s coffers in the last six years.

JAMB has also sxpended N500m as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in support of Nigerian universities to increase their capacity to give admission to applicants every year in the last five years.

The JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, revealed in Abeokuta, the Ogun State at a public lecture titled, “The Imperatives of JAMB in Tertiary Education in Nigeria”, as part of activities to mark this year’s Gbagura Day, said, it has increased the CSR to N750million this year.

He said, “Currently, over N50billion has been recorded as surplus in the past five years. Over N29billion of this has been returned directly to the CRF. About N11billion disbursed on capital projects, Corporate Social Responsibility, savings (about N6billion) and others in contrasts to about N52million that had been the cumulative return of the previous 40 years.”

He berated those calling for an extension of validity of results of Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) of candidates, saying those behind the calls are acting in ignorance.

The JAMB registrar explained that score that is good enough for a year may never be good enough for any subsequent year with more brilliant candidates; owing to the limited carrying capacity, stressing that increasing the validity period will further compound the huge backlog of untreated admission requests and subscriptions to various institutions in the country.

“In recent times, some people have agitated for the retention of the results of the UTME for more than a year. But let us be clear on this. The validity of a purposeful examination as the UTME cannot be extended beyond the purpose for which it has been administered, thus the score of such an examination cannot be banked for future use as done with Certification Test.

“Other reasons why UTME scores cannot be banked and its validity could not be extended beyond a year include:each year’s examination has different standard in terms of test difficulty and comparability since a norm-referenced test is linked only to the test population of a particular year.

“The psychometrics for comparability demands a statistical procedure of linking and equating the mean, standard deviation and rank order of performance scores to be approximately the same for each validity year.

This statistical factor must be equated in each year’s performance for adjustment and defensibility to the critical stakeholders on national combined selection; the purpose of the UTME is to align it with the current Year 1 (100 level) syllabus of tertiary institutions”.

“Change in syllabus may affect the validity and reliability of scores for candidates for different years; if fresh school leavers are to wait for all the earlier-school leavers to be admitted before they (the fresh) are considered, then the fresh ones would be unduly deprived even if they are more qualified than the earlier set”.

“The standard for each cohort is to take the best available each year rather than rank on age of test; admission in a given year depends on the carrying capacity of an institution and the performance of candidates at the examination viz-a-viz their chosen courses and programmes”.

Other parameters for admission such as Merit, Catchment Area, Educationally Less Developed States (ELDS), state of origin also play significant role”.

“A score that is good enough for a year may never be good enough for any subsequent year with more brilliant candidates;owing to the limited carrying capacity, increasing the validity period will further compound the huge backlog of untreated admission requests and subscriptions to various institutions.”

“Before the establishment of JAMB, the admission of prospective students was done by each university on its own. It was individualistic, chaotic and open to abuse as each institution set its own admission requirements without recourse to any central and coordinating statutory body”.

He said, “the establishment of JAMB has ensured a unified standard for the conduct of matriculation examination, harmonised entry requirements, ensured the placement of suitably qualified candidates into the nation tertiary institutions and strict compliance to admission guidelines”.

“If a central body for the assessment and placement of qualified candidates to tertiary education institutions could be desired when the nation had only thirteen universities, it should be more desirable now than ever when we have more than nine hundred tertiary education institutions”.

While institutions determine institutional and programme cut-off marks and other Admission criteria in exercise of their autonomy, regulatory agencies (NUC, NBTE and NCCE) decide the admission quota for the institutions. The role of JAMB is to ensure that the set criteria are adhered to along with the extant policies so that no qualified candidate will be left behind.

“The existence of JAMB restraints tertiary institutions, particularly, public tertiary ones, from arbitrariness in the admission process. It also serves as arbiter between the institutions and the candidates”.

“In order to protect the sanctity and integrity of its UTME, the Board puts in place several measures to curb the menace of examination malpractice, ensures active participation of stakeholders through a number of standing committee set up to monitor the conduct of UTME”.

FG approves N9.24bn Group Life for 2022/2023 for public servants

By Favour Nnabugwu
The has approved N9.24 billion for the 2022/2023 Group Life Insurance Cover for Nigeria public servants.
The N9 24 bn was approved by the Federal Executive Council, FEC in Abuja today
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Council meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Mrs. Ahmed, who spoke on the approval of the memorandum, which she said was presented to Council by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folashade Yemi-Esan, explained that the insurance is meant to cover all government officials.
“The Head of Service of the Federation presented a memo to Council on Group Life Insurance Cover for the period 2022 to 2023.
“This is an insurance cover that is covering all government officials in all government agencies, paramilitary and intelligence agencies.
“Council approved the total sum of N9.24 billion naira for the insurance cover for 2022 to 2023”
“As you know, the insurance will take effect from the date of payment and in Nigeria, by our laws, the insurance cover is 30 percent of the annual emolument of any staff of government that is deceased and this cover is paid by the insurance company to the beneficiaries of the deceased staff”, she said.
It will be recalled that the OHOSF gave the performance of claims settlement on the group life for previous cover: The key performance indexes (KPIs) on settlement of claims as of September, 2022 indicated that the total number of claims reported was 776; the number of claims paid was 357; total sum on claims reported, 4,201,392,384.27; number of awaiting EDVs from HoS/MDAs 101; total amount paid 1,574,709,562.12; the number of awaiting DVs from lead underwriter 150 (2,626,682,822.15), total amount expected from EDVs 785,123,928.73, number of incomplete documentations 168 and total outstanding claims is 1,841,558,893.42.”
Group life cover is a joint regulation of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), and the National Pension Commission (PenCom). Section 9 (3) of the Pension Reform Act 2004 (now PRA 2014), requires every employer, to which the Act applies, to maintain Life Insurance Policy in favour of the employee for a minimum of three times the annual total emolument of the employee. The policy provides cover to the insured against death coordinated by the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation on behalf of the federal government.
Nigeria joins league of countries to remove Covid-19 restrictions

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

 

Nigeria has joined the league of countries that have removed Covid-19 restrictions after than two years after it instituted safety measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic in the country,

The restriction removed include: No tests before arrivalN; o tests upon or after arrival; No countries banned due to covid-19;N o quarantine periods and No vaccine requirements

Countries that have removed COVID-19 include: Morroco, Egypt, Namibia, South Africa; Benin among othe countries

The President Muhammadu Buhari administration has approved the immediate relaxation of the Safety Measures and Travel Advisory following the recommendations of the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 (PSC).

Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chairman, Presidential Steering Committee PSC on COVID-19, Mr Boss Mustapha said the decision was based on Clinical and Laboratory evidence of sustained reduction in COVID-19 infection/transmission across the country.

He said; “The relaxed measures include the following:

“Gathering limitations in Public Places: All restrictions with regard to gathering in public places have been lifted. Owners of facilities are strongly encouraged to maintain good environmental/respiratory hygiene, and ventilation.

“Use of Face Mask: The use of facemasks is at individual’s discretion for outdoor and indoor events. However, the elderly, immunocompromised and those with co- morbidities are advised to use facemasks, wash hands with clean water and soap, use hand sanitizers, and avoid large gatherings.

“COVID-19 Travel testing: All pre-departure and post arrival PCR test requirements for all persons who are not fully vaccinated have been suspended. With the suspension of both the preboarding and post-arrival PCR tests, passengers will no longer be required to upload evidence of vaccination on the Nigeria International Travel Portal (NITP). All unvaccinated and partially vaccinated passengers are strongly encouraged to get fully vaccinated.

“Health Declaration Form. A simplified Health Declaration (non-covid-19 specific) shall be completed by all passengers arriving in Nigeria on the Nigeria International Travel Portal (NITP); while provision will be made on arrival for those who were unable to complete this form before departure.

“Finally, the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 (PSC) passionately appeals to Nigerians to ensure that they take their COVID-19 vaccinations as well as booster doses”.

CBN disburses over N9.7trn intervention funds

By Favour Nnabugwu 
A whopping  sum of N9.714 trillion had so far been disbursed through various intervention funds by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
According the bank’s Development Finance  Department (DFD) Report made available at its 2022 Retreat,  in Abuja, yesterday,  the Manufacturing/Industry sector had the highest allocation of 32.6 percent.
It was followed by Energy/Infrastructure and Agriculture with 23. 1 percent and 22.8 percent allocations,  respectively.
The Director of DFD, Mr. Philip Yusuf in his address, said that the CBN was at the forefront of food security in the country.
He noted that although some people had raised concerns about rising food inflation, despite the bank’s massive interventions in the agricultural sector, the nation would have faced famine, if the CBN had not intervened.
According to him, “In the global environment today, the challenge is on multiple fronts, geo-political instability like the Russia Ukraine war has pushed food inflation to a record high and it has global consequences for countries and citizens across the world. Price volatility across the world has also proven to have dire consequences especially for developing economies.
“The department has been in the forefront of food security drive in Nigeria through different programmes and initiatives.
“Nigeria is a country with a population of over 200 million people with a population growth of 2.5 per cent annually with GDP of $445 billion and the largest economy in Africa.
“With 6 geo-political zones and different languages, Nigeria offers huge opportunity of growth. As such, the task of ensuring food security and stabilizing growth is hardly a work in the park.
“The CBN has been at the forefront of ensuring Nigeria achieves food security in collaboration with other fiscal authorities also stimulating growth in collaboration with ministry of industry.
“Food security in Nigeria has received massive boost in the last 5 years since the CBN intervened in the sector to curb over-reliance on imported goods.
“We have tranversed the length and breadth of Nigeria, empowering farmers and MSMEs in access to Finance and agric-business and also using target credit facility. It became a comfort for households especially during the covid 19.
“For those looking at food inflation to discredit the work we have done in the development finance department, I just want to tell them that Nigeria is part of a global financial system and can be prone to global shocks.
“With the rising price of food, we would have faced severe famine if not for our interventions and the agric-value chain have witnessed tremendous progress because of our interventions which we believe has set Nigeria is on the part of sustainable food sufficiency.”
Also, the Deputy Governor in charge Corporate Services,  Mr. Edward Adamu promised greater support for the DFD to further its interventions.
He added that all regions of the country would feel the impact of the interventions.
Also speaking,  the Deputy Governor, Financial Systems Stability,  Mrs. Aisha Ahmad, urges beneficiaries of the CBN loans to pay back, to enable other to benefit from the interventions.
 “The loans which has been disbursed by the CBN through the development finance department has impacted greatly on the sustainability of Nigeria’s agric value chain which was evident in the third quarter GDP report released by the NBS which shows a growth of 29.9 per cent growth from 21 per cent recorded in the first quarter of 2021.
“However we urge the beneficiaries of these interventions to pay up the loans so that other people can also benefit.”
NAICOM rolls out revised guidelines on Bancassurance

By Favour Nnabugwu to
The National Insurance Commission, Naicom has rolled out revised guidelines on Bancassurance
Bancassurance is a relationship between a bank and an insurance company that is aimed at offering insurance products or insurance benefits to the bank’s customers. In this partnership, bank staff and tellers become the point of sale and point of contact for the customer service.
According to NAN, the Chairman of the media subcommittee of the Insurance Industry Committee (IIC), Jide Orimolade, revealed this at a news briefing at the end of the 13th IIC meeting in Lagos.
He explained that the development would enable insurance companies to partner with many banks rather than dealing with only one bank at a time.
Fair play by parties: He explained that the new guidelines were laudable and would ensure fair play by operators in the insurance market.
He added that this would disable exclusivity, which is also in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s regulation that prescribes that a commercial bank cannot propose the product of only the insurance company they were partnering with to a consumer.
More update: speaking to plans for the microinsurance segment, Orimolade noted that there is work in progress to review the share capital of the microinsurance segment in terms of market development as proposed by an IIC subcommittee.
On the proposed increment of the premium for the third-party motor insurance policy, Orimolade said that there were processes for increasing the rate.
He further explained that the process for the revised premium rate for the third-party motor insurance policy had reached a point of approval by the Governing Board of NAICOM.
Following the board’s assent, he said the draft approval would be forwarded to the Minister of Finance for concurrence. Until then, he said the proposed amount for the policy cannot be disclosed because the minister cannot be preempted.
IFRS 17: the subcommittee chairman said insurance companies were expected to prepare their financial statements in compliance with the IFRS -17 from January 1st, 2023. He added that the insurance companies were ready for the IFRS-17, though there could be issues to address.
Industry performance: Rasaaq Salami, the Head of Corporate Affairs and Market Development at NAICOM, opined that the industry had not done badly, as there had been lots of positive activities within the industry. He said:
“Lots of indices are looking upward for the industry this year, which is very encouraging because of a number of factors, such as the IIC meeting. The IIC is a meeting point for regulators and operators to resolve issues and also come up with common processes and objectives on what should be done.
“This has helped in improving the performance of the industry and gradually reducing friction between the regulator and the operators. We hope that the situation will be maintained in the coming years.”
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PenCom, PenOp set the ball rolling for 25% acquisition residential mortgage

By Favour Nnabugwu
The National Pension Commission (PenCom) and the Pension Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp) have set the ball rolling for the Retirement Savings Account holders to access their equity contributions for the acquisition of residential mortgage.
At the seminar for Nigerian Association of Insurance and Pension Editors, NAIPE organised by PenOp themed: “Pension: An Opportunity to Own Your Own Home, An X-Ray of the New RSA Plan On Home Ownership, revealed that RSA holder should have contributed for five years (60 months) cumulative of employer and employee’s mandatory contributions.
Presenting the theme paper, the Head of Investment Department, PenCom, Ibrahim Kangiwa, said for contributors under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) to be eligible to use their RSA balance for acquisition of residential mortgages said five contribution is needed to access residential mortgage.
Kangiwa said the same thing was applicable to the contributors under the Micro Pension Plan (MPP), adding that married couples, who individually met the eligibility criteria, are also eligible.
On the authorised limit for equity contribution that qualifies a contributor, Kangiwa put the maximum allowed at 25 per cent of the RSA balance, noting that “where 25 per cent of RSA balance is more than equity contribution, the RSA holder can only access the amount equivalent to equity contribution required.
“Where 25 per cent is not sufficient for equity contribution, RSA holder may utilise Voluntary Contribution (VC) in line with the Voluntary Contribution guidelines.
To make it easier for RSAs to acquire their own house, he further said, “Where 25 per cent is not sufficient for equity contribution, Micro Pension (MP) contributor may utilise contingency portion in line with MP guidelines.
“Where 25 per cent is insufficient as equity contribution, RSA holder shall deposit the difference with the mortgage lender,” Kangiwa explained.
Those exempted from this initiative, according to Kangiwa, include RSA holders that have less than three years to retirement; existing retirees on CPS; exempted persons under the PRA 2014 and RSA holders who do not have both employer and employee’s mandatory contributions for a cumulative minimum period of 60 months.
He said that equity contribution was not for refinancing existing mortgage, outright purchase of property and purchase of land, noting that the property shall be for residential purpose only.
Kangiwa said the objective of the initiative was to provide housing for first time home owners and improve the standard of living of RSA holders under the CPS by facilitating their ownership of residential homes during their working life.
PenCom guidelines states that
Application for equity contribution for residential mortgage shall be in person and not by proxy.”
On the maximum withdrawal percentage, PenCom said this must be 25 per cent of the total mandatory RSA balance as at the date of application, irrespective of the value of equity contribution required by the mortgage lender.
Earlier in his remarks, the President, PenOp/Managing Director, Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers, Olumide Oyetan, emphasised the need for stakeholders to work together to ensure the successful implementation the guidelines.
He said the successful implementation of this initiative would improve people’s welfare and move the country forward.
to qualify for the mortgage,