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Covid, Cyber, Compliance and ESG top risk concerns for financial services sector: Allianz

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

Financial institutions and their directors have to navigate a rapidly changing world, marked by new and emerging risks driven by cyber exposures based on the sector’s reliance on technology, a growing burden of compliance, and the turbulence of Covid-19, according to a new report Financial Services Risk Trend An Insurer’s Perspective from Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS).

At the same time, the behavior and culture of financial institutions is under growing scrutiny from a wide range of stakeholders in areas such as sustainability, employment practices, diversity and inclusion and executive pay.

“The financial services sector faces a period of heightened risks. Covid-19 has caused one of the largest ever shocks to the global economy, triggering unprecedented economic and fiscal stimulus and record levels of government debt,” says Paul Schiavone, Global Industry Solutions Director Financial Services at AGCS. “Despite an improved economic outlook, considerable uncertainty remains. The threat of economic and market volatility still lies ahead while the sector is also increasingly needing to focus on so-called ‘non-financial’ risks such as cyber resilience, management of third parties and supply chains, as well as the impact of climate change and other Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) trends.”

The AGCS report highlights some of the most significant risk trends for banks, asset managers, private equity funds, insurers and other players in the financial services sector, as ranked in the Allianz Risk Barometer 2021 which surveyed over 900 industry respondents: Cyber incidents, Pandemic outbreak and Business interruption are the top three risks, followed by Changes in legislation and regulation – driven by ESG and climate change concerns in particular. Macroeconomic developments, such as rising credit risk and the ongoing low interest rate environment, ranked fifth.

The Allianz Risk Barometer findings are mirrored by an AGCS analysis an of 7,654 insurance claims for the financial services segment over the past five years, worth approximately €870mn ($1.05bn). Cyber incidents, including crime, ranks as the top cause of loss by value, with other top loss drivers including negligence and shareholder derivative actions.

Covid 19 impact
Financial institutions are alive to the potential ramifications of government and central bank responses to the pandemic, such as low interest rates, rising government debt and the winding down of support and grants and loans to businesses. Large corrections or adjustments in markets – such as in equities, bonds or credit – could result in potential litigation from investors and shareholders, while an increase in insolvencies could also put some institutions’ own balance sheets under additional strain. “Claims may be brought against directors and officers in the financial services industry where there has been a perceived failure to foresee, disclose or manage or prepare for Covid-19 related risks,” says Shanil Williams, Global Head of Financial Lines at AGCS.

Cyber – highly exposed despite high level of security spend

The Covid-19 environment is also providing fertile ground for criminals seeking to exploit the crisis as the pandemic led to a rapid and largely unplanned increase in homeworking, electronic trading and a rapid acceleration in digitalization. Despite significant cyber security spend, financial services companies are an attractive target and face a wide range of cyber threats including business email compromise attacks, ransomware campaigns, ATM “jackpotting” – where criminals take control of cash machines through network servers – or supply chain attacks. The recent SolarWinds incident targeted banks and regulatory agencies, demonstrating the potential vulnerabilities of the sector to outages via their reliance on third-party service providers. Most financial institutions are now making use of cloud services-run software which comes with a growing reliance on a relatively small number of providers. Institutions face sizable business interruption exposures, as well as third party liabilities, when things go wrong.

“Third-party service providers can be the weak link in the cyber security chain,” says Thomas Kang, Head of Cyber, Tech and Media, North America at AGCS. “We recently had a bank client suffer a large data breach after a third-party vendor failed to delete personal information when decommissioning hardware. How financial institutions manage risks presented by the cloud will be critical going forward. They are effectively offloading a significant portion of cyber security responsibilities to a third-party. However, by partnering with the right cloud service provider, companies can also leverage the cloud as a way to manage their overall cyber exposure.”

Compliance challenges around cyber, cryptocurrencies and climate change

Compliance is one of the biggest challenges for the financial services industry, with legislation and regulation around cyber, new technologies and climate change and ESG factors constantly evolving and increasing. Indeed, the report notes that there has been a seismic shift in the regulatory view of privacy and cyber security in recent years with firms facing a growing bank of requirements. The consequences of data breaches are far-reaching, with more aggressive enforcement, higher fines and regulatory costs, and growing third party liability, followed by litigation. Regulators are increasingly focusing on business continuity, operational resilience and the management of third party risk following a number of major outages at banks and payment processing companies. Companies need to operationalize their response to regulation and privacy rights, not just look at cyber security.

Applications of new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), biometrics and virtual currencies will likely raise new risks and liabilities in future, in large part from compliance and regulation as well. With AI, there has already been regulatory investigations in the US related to the use of unconscious bias in algorithms for credit scoring. There have also been a number of lawsuits related to the collection and use of biometric data. The growing acceptance of digital or cryptocurrencies as an asset class will ultimately present operational and regulatory risks for financial institutions with uncertainty around potential asset bubbles and concerns about money laundering, ransomware attacks, the prospect of third-party liabilities and even ESG issues as “mining” or creating cryptocurrencies uses large amounts of energy. Finally, the growth in stock market investment, guided by social media raises mis-selling concerns – already one of the top causes of insurance claims.

ESG factors taking center stage

Financial institutions and capital markets are seen as an important facilitator of the change needed to tackle climate change and encourage sustainability. Again, regulation is setting the pace. There have been over 170 ESG regulatory measures introduced globally since 2018, with Europe leading the way. The surge in regulation, in combination with inconsistent approaches across jurisdictions and a lack of data availability, represents significant operational and compliance challenges for financial service providers. “Financial services may be ahead of many other sectors when it comes to addressing ESG topics, but it will still be an important factor shaping risk for years to come,” says David Van den Berghe, Global Head of Financial Institutions at AGCS. “Social and environmental trends are increasingly sources of regulatory change and liability, while increased disclosure and reporting will make it much easier to hold companies and their boards to account.”

At the same time, activist shareholders or stakeholders increasingly focus on ESG topics. Climate change litigation, in particular, is beginning to include financial institutions. Cases have previously tended to focus on the nature of investments, although there has been a growing use of litigation seeking to drive behavioral shifts and force disclosure debate. Besides climate change, broader social responsibilities are coming under scrutiny, with board remuneration and  diversity being particular hot topics, and regulatory issues. “Companies that commit to addressing climate change and diversity and inclusion will need to follow through. For those that do not, it will come back to haunt them,” says Van den Berghe.

Claims trends and its impact on the insurance market

The AGCS report also highlights some of the major causes of claims that insurers see from financial institutions. The fact that compliance risk is growing is concerning, as compliance issues are already one of the biggest drivers of claims. “Keeping abreast of compliance in a rapidly-changing world is a tough task for companies and their directors and officers,” says Williams. “Their compliance burden is enormous, and is now accompanied by growing regulatory activism, legal action and litigation funding.”

Cyber incidents already result in the most expensive claims and insurers are seeing a rising number of technology-related losses including claims made against directors following major privacy breaches. Other examples include sizable claims related to fraudulent payment instructions and “fake president” scams. Such payments can be in the millions of dollars. AGCS has also handled a number of liability claims arising from technical problems with exchanges and electronic processing systems where systems have gone down and clients have not been able to execute trades, and have made claims against policyholders for loss of opportunity. There have also been claims where a system failure has caused damages to a third party; one financial institution suffered a significant loss after a trading system crashed causing processing failures for customers.

Recent loss activity, compounded by Covid-19 uncertainty, have contributed to a recasting of the insurance market for financial institutions, characterized by adjusted pricing and enhanced focus on risk selection by insurers, but also a growing interest for alternative risk transfer solutions, in addition to traditional insurance. Insurance is increasingly an important part of the capital stack of financial institutions and a growing number are partnering with insurers to manage risk and regulatory capital requirements or utilizing captive insurers to compensate for changes in the insurance markets or to finance more difficult-to-place risks.

“At AGCS, we are committed to engaging with financial institutions to help them mitigate their exposures and develop adequate risk transfer solutions for a sector that is embarking on a major transformation, driven by fast-paced technology adoption and growing ESG issues, while having to master the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic,” says Schiavone.

Patoma Admin by — May 5, 2021 in Insurance 0
A woman gives birth 9 babies – 5 girls, 4 boys

By admin

 

A woman has shocked the world by giving birth to nine babies.

The Malian woman who made history in the continent has been identified as Halima Cisse.

She gave birth to nine babies on Tuesday – two more than doctors had detected inside her crowded womb.

She joined a small pantheon of mothers of nonuplets.

The pregnancy of Halima Cisse, 25, fascinated Malians and attracted the attention of its leaders.

When doctors in March said Cisse needed specialist care, authorities flew her to Morocco, where she gave birth.

“The newborns (five girls and four boys) and the mother are all doing well,” Mali’s health minister, Fanta Siby, said in a statement.

Cisse was expected to give birth to seven babies, according to ultrasounds conducted in Morocco and Mali that missed two of the siblings.

All were delivered by caesarean section.

Nonuplets are extremely rare. Medical complications in multiple births of this kind often mean that some of the babies do not reach full term.

Patoma Admin by — May 5, 2021 in Metro 0
FG to begin second phase distribution of 4m free pre-paid electricity meters

By Favour Nnabugwu

THE Federal Government on Wednesday said it will soon begin the second phase distribution of four million pre-paid electricity meters free to Nigerians.

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, had promised to make available four million pre-paid electricity meters aside from the one million the government earlier provided which were being distributed nationwide.

This is as the Federal Executive Council, FEC, at its 44th virtual meeting approved sums worth more than $8.29 million as well as N3 billion for the execution of various electricity projects in the country.

Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the First Lady’s Conference Room, Presidential Villa, Abuja, the Minister of Power, Engr Mamman Saleh, said that there was an improvement in power generation, adding that the country generates 5, 000 megawatts from the initial 3,000 megawatts it was generating.

The Minister said that government was almost getting through with the distribution of one million pre-free paid meters to Nigerians.

Fielding question on the progress report with the distribution of the one million pre-paid meters, he said, “It’s ongoing, we are almost rounding off.

“We have almost finished with phase zero, we are now going into phase one of the distribution of the metres, that is the remaining four million the Central Bank promised to augment with.

“The first set is one million, we are about to finish with that, but you know, it is not the target, one million is very negligible compared to the demand of Nigerians.”

Further asked whether there was any improvement in power generation, he said, “We are improving, it (power generation) has improved, you can see, I don’t have to tell you.

“We are moving from 3000 megawatts, today we are generating up up to 5000 megawatts or over that, so it is a great improvement.”

Speaking to journalists on the approvals granted by the council, Engr Saleh, said most of the projects are procurement of equipment as well as designs and manufactures.

He also said that some are for the upgrade of the nation’s electricity facility and improvement of power supply across the country.

He said, the Ministry of Power presented six memoranda to the FEC and that all the memos were approved.

The aggregate of all the figures, in both naira and dollar denominations, summed up to a total of N6,156,168,822, when the dollar component was converted by the official exchange rate of N380 to $1.

He said, “The Federal Executive Council today approved six memos under the Ministry of Power. The first one is the award of a contract for design, manufacturing and supply of critical spare parts for Crompton Greaves 330 kV, 132 kV and 33 kV circuit breakers to Messrs. Legen Engineering Nigeria Limited in the sum of N298,339,887.04.

“The second one is the award of the contract for the procurement of 50 sets of 400 AH battery banks, 30 to 50 volts and 30 number of 110 volt battery charges for the substation used by the TCN in favour of Messrs. DTS Transformers Electric Industry Limited at the sum of N644,805,953.10.

“The third award of contract is for the procurement of 50 cent also of 132 kV isolators for the TCN in favour of Messrs. Leading Diagonal Engineering Nigeria Limited in the sum of $840,650 plus N53,900,000 within the delivery period of six months.

“The fourth one is the award the contract for the design, manufacturing and the supply of three 60/66 MVA 132kV power transformers with accessories and 15 number of 500 kV transformers, 33/0.415kV earthing transformers for the TCN in favour of Messrs. Zhenjiang Transformers Company Limited, in the sum of N1,296,953,044.55 with delivery period of 12 months.

“The fifth one is the award of the contract for the design, supply and installation of Optical Wire (OPGW) and Universal Optical Transportation Network System (OTN) for some critical transmission lines in favour of Messrs. Xinjiang Power and Transportation Company Limited in the sum of $6,800,743.51, plus N668,843,634.74, with a delivery period of 12 months

“The last one is the upward review of the contraction for the design, manufacture, supply, installation and commissioning of 1X 100MVA, 132/33kV power transformers at Ogba Transmission Substation, Lagos, in favour of Messrs. Power Control and Appliances Limited, in the sum of $648,038.31, plus N48,342,524.18, with the delivery period of six months.

“All these procurements are geared towards upgrades of the transmission system, to the national grid, so that we can have sufficient power supply to the nation”, he said.

The Minister said that government was making sure that supply was stable and also working towards ensuring that it upgrades the supply “from say 4000 megawatts to 5000 to 6000 to 7000 megawatts and so on.

“So, the more we replace some obsolete and outdated equipment, the more we improve the supply of electricity.”

Asked whether he agreed with the report that over 70 per cent of Nigerians who have electricity supply have less than 12 hours a day, he said, “It all depends. You know we have graded the supply based on the metering.

“Unless the metres are sufficient, we will not know which and where to push 24 hours supplies because there are some people who are ready for 24 hours and there are those who are not ready for 24 hours supply of light.

“So, we have graded according to that priorities and like we have been saying, I will keep telling Nigerians that this tariff issue, those who are not getting 24 hours are not equally charged like those who are getting 24 hours. So, there is a difference. Until you have a metre, then you’ll know what you consume at the end of the day.”

Patoma Admin by — May 5, 2021 in News 0
United Nigeria Airlines adds more schedule to Lagos, Abuja

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

United Nigeria Airlines says effective Friday, May 7, 2021,it has increased flight frequency from the Murtala Mohammed Airport (MM2) in Ikeja, Lagos into the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja and vice versa.

The airline, with the development, will additionally fly Lagos-Abuja at 16:00hrs every day. United Nigeria Airlines will also, additionally, fly Abuja-Lagos every day at 17:30hrs

The new schedule adds to United Nigeria Airlines regular schedule on the Lagos-Abuja-Lagos route which emanates from MM2 at 13:00hrs and from Abuja at 14:30hrs.

 

Patoma Admin by — May 5, 2021 in Aviation 0
ILO, CIFM to train participants on online Insurance

By Favour Nnabugwu

International Labour Organization, ILO, and the College of Insurance and Finacial Management are set to train participants on online Insurance via Zoom.

The Impact Insurance Facility of the ILO and the CIFM will organize the training Product design for inclusive insurance on May 26 and 27, 2021.

During this, the institutions said that participants will learn about: the characteristics of the inclusive insurance market and factors that influence demand.

The business case for providing inclusive insurance responsibly; Designing inclusive insurance products; Standards and guidelines for building a value chain that can deliver inclusive insurance responsibly;
The role of distribution channels in inclusive insurance products; and industry standards and guidelines that make inclusive insurance offering more viable.

According to ILO, despite growing knowledge on how to provide insurance solutions to the bottom-of-the-pyramid, the majority of insurers and distributors in emerging markets struggle to offer insurance products that are viable for them and valuable for consumers.

Capacity gaps among managers are inhibiting the progress. At the local and regional levels, often training programmes are unavailable and training providers have limited technical capabilities to address training needs.

At the global level, the growing body of knowledge on inclusive insurance is yet to be organized into a formal programme that follows rigorous standards.

We work at the local, regional and global levels to address these capacity building gaps. At the local and regional levels, we search for promising training institutes in markets where we operate and partner with them to help them develop more skilled trainers and provide them with high quality ILO-developed training modules that can form part of their core training portfolio and contribute to a sustainable business model.

Patoma Admin by — May 4, 2021 in Insurance 0
We are looking @ alternative investment to increase yields – PenOp

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

The Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp), is looking has said it is investment alternative aside from the government bonds and treasury bills to increase returns on investment as pension funds asset suffered a N51.30 billion decline in February.

The Chief Executive Officer of PenOp, Mr. Oguche Agudah, said this recently at a virtual training organized by PenOp for members of the National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondents (NAIPCO).

Agudah who noted that the pension fund assets decline of N51.30 billion in February was mainly attributed to the depreciation in the prices of Fixed Income Securities (FISs) in the trading portfolios of the Approved Existing Schemes (AES), RSA Funds II and IV and Closed Pension Fund Administrators (CPFA), explained that the loss in percentage is minimal when subtracted from the N12.29 trillion pension asset.

He said, “If you examine the N51.30 billion depreciation from the N12.29 trillion pension funds in January 2021, you will notice it is not even up to 0.01 per cent, so the percentage loss here is minimal.

“However, we know there are concerns about the decline in the pension value of assets and the honest truth is that pension funds need to invest more in other assets classes outside of the government bonds and treasury bills which are the safest. So, safety is the first option adopted when investing in any asset”

“Currently pension funds cannot invest in foreign bills because there are regulations which need to be approved by the government. However, we are looking out for other various outlets and areas where the funds can be invested; areas like private equity, but the honest truth is that we need to balance between safety and returns. Notwithstanding, the industry is looking at other alternative investment instruments”, Agudah maintained.

For her part, the Head of Media, Communications and Branding Committee, PenOp, Mrs. Amaka Andy-Azike, explained that the decline in the pension funds are unrealized losses according to the terms of the equity market but pension funds operators are sourcing for other means to increase the yields.

“As operators, we focus more on the safety of funds when investing even as we try to also give fair returns on your investments. The decline in pension funds was because of the market volatility; the money market, bonds and treasury bills have been fluctuating due to the nature of what the economy experienced last year and is still going through.

“Fortunately, as we speak, the yields have increased greatly. Before now, for instance, our money market yield was like 0.5 to 2 per cent but now some banks are offering 10 per cent.

“Indeed, the prices of bonds also decline; it was trending for 6 per cent in some areas for long-term and 4 per cent for short to medium term but today, yields on bonds have started trending upwards. So, if you do a revaluation of the previous loss on pension funds, you will discover that it is not up to the N51 billion.

“Also, it is worthy to note that in the equity market most of these losses are not actual losses, they are unrealized losses because when the equity market goes up again, these yields will rebound and you will get much more. So, some of these losses are not realized losses and some have been corrected because there is increase in yield now in all our instruments; and we are currently looking out for other platforms that are safe to invest the funds. So, for us, the safety of your funds come first in all investment we partake”.

Patoma Admin by — May 4, 2021 in Pension 0
CBN reduces processing time for reversal of failed ATM, POS & Web transaction to be immediate from June 8, 2021

By Favour Nnabugwu

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reviewed its guidelines for the operation of electronic payment channels in the country and has directed banks and payment service providers to resolve customers’ chargeback complaints on electronic channels within 24:hours from 8th June 2020.

The apex bank stated this in a circular issued on Sunday and endorsed by Musa I. Jimoh, its Director of Payments System Management.

According to the directive, addressed to all banks and payment service providers, the reversal of failed on-us ATM transactions (failed transactions when customers use their cards on their bank’s ATMs) shall be immediate from the current timeline of 3 days.

However, in a situation where an instant reversal fails because of technical issues of system glitches, the timeline for manual reversal shall not be more than 24 hours.

Similarly, the timeline for the reversals of failed not-on-us ATM transactions (failed transactions when customers use their cards on other banks’ ATMs) shall not exceed 48 hours from the current 3 to 5 days.

The central bank added that refunds on disputed/failed POS/Web transactions shall be effected within 48 hours from current 5 days.

“All Switches are to adjust the chargeback cycle in their dispute resolution systems to 24 hours from 72 hours.

“All Acquirer-initiated refunds shall henceforth be initiated by all banks within 48 hours.

“Processors are to provide daily settlement reports latest 8.am on T+1 basis.

“NIBSS shall send daily reports on reversals to processors on or before 10pm each day,” the document read in part.

The CBN also ordered banks in the country to clear their backlogs of all ATM refunds within one week and within two weeks for POS & Web customers’ refunds respectively with effect from 8th June 2020.

Patoma Admin by — May 4, 2021 in Banking & Finance 0
Air Peace Orders The Embraer E195-E2

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

Air Peace will soon take delivery of its third Embraer E195-E2. With a total order of 13, there are still many more of these jets yet to arrive at the airline

The regional jet, configured by Air Peace with 124 seats across two classes, offers a modern and efficient aircraft. With fuel being a major operating cost for any airline, Air Peace had fuel burn-efficiency high on the priority list.

As part of a public statement issued when the airline boosted its order from 10 to 13, Onyema said that he and his team were receiving “impressive data about the aircraft’s economics” after the aircraft entered revenue service. “This was a driver to place this new firm order with Embraer,” Onyema explained.

Before the global crisis, Air Peace had been operating more than 20 local, regional, and international routes. With this in mind, it had strategic plans to expand those routes.

On the regional front with its African operations, Air Peace Chairman and CEO Allen Onyema sees the E195-E2 as the perfect aircraft. The airline chief says the jet furthers its “no-city-left-behind initiative,” which has the goal of enhancing connectivity in Nigeria and the African region.

In addition to connecting Nigeria and Africa, the jets will also be used to connect to the carrier’s international hub at Lagos. In doing so, the E195-E2s will feed Air Peace’s long-haul flights- operated by Boeing 777s.

Air Peace’s CEO also cited the aircraft’s ‘unique configuration’ as another major reason for ordering the E195-E2. In addition to being the very first African carrier to operate the type, the airline is also the global launch customer for Embraer’s innovative premium staggered seating design.

As shown below, this configuration gives every passenger direct aisle access by offsetting each seat from the one next to it. Business class passengers are thus able to enter and leave their seats without disturbing their seat neighbors.

Adding more Embraer jets to the fleet
Air Peace already has Embraer regional jets in its fleet in the form of eight ERJ-145s. While over 20 years separate the development of these jets and the new E195-E2s, there will be a handful of similarities in how the two types operate.

More importantly, however, is the simplicity in having just one planemaker to deal with in terms of service and support for Air Peace’s regional aircraft fleet.

Patoma Admin by — May 4, 2021 in Aviation 0
Linkage Assurance unveils brand identity

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

Linkage Assurance Plc has unveiled its new brand identity to refects it’s present status in the industry.

The change in the company’s logo embodies a new blue, red, and orange. The inspiration behind the transformation is to reflect the new core values of the company, and to restate the qualities of trust, innovation, excellence, sincerity, and reliability that the company is recognized for.

Commenting on the new brand identity, Mr. Daniel Braie, Chief Executive Officer of Linkage Assurance Plc stated that the new logo and recapitalization efforts of the company present our aspiration as “Bigger, Bolder and Better” to offer exceptional insurance protection to individuals and businesses in Nigeria.

He said; “Even though our logo is changing, what is not changing is our purpose and dedication to delivering on our promises to our stakeholders”.

“To us here at Linkage Assurance Plc, this goes beyond a logo change. Our new identity is one of many parts of our transformation process and it helps to strengthen our purpose. It is a reflection of where we are heading, through our commitment to protect our policyholders, reinforce our legacy of trust while also capturing the spirit of the dynamic future we see ahead of us.

Speaking further, Mr. Braie said that the new logo with its crisp, clean feel, captures Linkage’s dynamism and excellence whilst bringing a sense of rejuvenation and growth in the company.

Linkage Assurance Plc is an insurance company which offers insurance protection for automobiles, homes, retail, commercial businesses in oil and gas, marine, aviation, and agriculture in Nigeria.

Patoma Admin by — May 4, 2021 in Insurance 0
AIICO Insurance profit before tax rise by 11.3% in Q1 2021

eports

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

AIICO Insurance has recorded an increase in Profit before tax by 11.3 percent to ₦1.6 billion in Q1 2021 while in the Q1 2020, it was ₦1.4 billion) on the back of improved overall profitability in the insurance businesses (Life, General and HMO).

Profits in our Wealth Management business declined in Q1 2021 as capital markets turned bearish during the quarter.

The company’s ross written premium grew by 12.2 percent to ₦19.7 billion in Q1 2021 against the ₦17.6 billion announced in the Q12020.

This was due to an increase of 34.0 percent in the General Insurance business against  35.7 percent of gross written premiums to ₦7.0 billion Q1 2020: ₦4.6 billion

Underwriting profit of ₦27.7 billion in Q1 2021 while in the Q1 2020 it was ₦-131.0 million. Changes in sovereign bond yields impacted the value of our liabilities and assets.

 These movements are reflected in the change in life and annuity funds as well as fair value/realized gains or losses on the income statement. In the Life business, we are typically concerned about whether there is a surplus or deficit of assets over liabilities because of these movements.

 However, because of limitations in financial reporting, changes in liabilities affect underwriting profits while changes in assets are reported below underwriting profits. The effect is the significant variation in underwriting profits especially in volatile investment yield environments, such as we have in Nigeria.

 During Q1 2021, annualized yields rose by 430 basis points to 11.7 percent  at the long end of the yield curve, leading to a reduction in the fair values of assets and liabilities; the reduction in liabilities led to positive underwriting profit while the reduction in assets is reflected in the fair value losses for the period.

Total Investment income declined to a loss of ₦24.1 billion in Q1 2021 and in the Q1 2020 the company had ₦4.7 billion as Federal Government of Nigeria bond yields rose, affecting the fair value of our financial assets. Federal Government of Nigeria bonds make up most of our investment portfolio.

Profit after tax declined by 17.6 percent to ₦1.5 billion in Q1 2021 and in Q1 2020: ₦1.9 billion  tax credits of ₦435.7 million in Q1 2020 improved after tax performance compared to Q1 2021.

Total assets declined by 11.1percent to ₦216.2 billion in Q1 2021 (FY 2020: ₦243.1 billion) driven by a reduction in financial assets (-9.3percent; 79.0 percent of total assets) and cash and cash equivalents (-38.2percent; 9.1percent of total assets).

Total liabilities declined by 13.4percent to ₦180.6 billion in Q1 2021 (FY 2020: ₦208.4 billion). This was driven mainly by decline in insurance contract liabilities (-15.9percent) from the rise in yields and reserving for new business and fixed income liabilities (-9.5percent) in our asset management business.

Total equity increased by 2.8percent to ₦35.6 billion in Q1 2021 (FY 2020: ₦34.7 billion)
Commenting on the results.

Mr. Babatunde Fajemirokun, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer said, “The world is in a difficult moment and Nigeria has not been spared. Even as the world starts to move on from the pandemic, the economic after-effects will reverberate for a while yet. However, there is some reason for optimism – economic activities have improved, and the country will likely exit the recession.

“Oil prices remain elevated, and the pandemic-induced lockdowns are easing all over the world. We made significant strides in 2020: implementing our business continuity plan and leveraging technology to improve processes and get closer to our customers. Building on this, we recorded premium growth of 12.2% y-o-y to ₦19.7 billion in Q1 2021. Our financial position remains resilient as well – shareholders’ funds increased 3.3% year-to-date to ₦34.8 billion”.

“Nonetheless, we remain optimistic that economic activities will continue to rebound in coming periods, the IMF has revised its economic growth forecasts for Nigeria upward to 2.5% from 1.5%. Insurance, like every other sector, will have its role to play in the economic recovery as enablers of economic growth by assuming risks that encourage long-term direct investment which enhances production and job creation. Our robust financial position ensures that we can meet our obligations when they arise.”

Patoma Admin by — May 4, 2021 in Insurance 0