All Posts in "Insurance"

Naicom strengthen ties with brokers’ to deepen insurance

By Favour Nnabugwu

 The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has strengthen ties with Insurance Brokers in the country to further deepen insurance market in Nigeria.

The Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Sunday Thomas, during a courtesy visit to the Commission by Management of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) led by the Council’s President, Mr. Rotimi Edu, noted that Insurance Brokers constituted a critical segment of the insurance industry whose roles are being factored into the industry’s ongoing growth initiatives

Thomas utilized the visit to highlight some issues being combated by the Council of which appropriate rating of risks was one. He opined that inappropriate rating of insurance risks had led to a diminution of the reserves and solvency of the industry, for which urgent steps were being taken by NAICOM.

Earlier, Edu had applauded the phenomenal strides of the Commission in fostering better industry unity and cohesion. He intimated the Commissioner with the various initiatives by the Council to grow the Insurance Industry and ensure adherence to ethics by Brokers.

 Edu particularly disclosed that the Council would soon introduce the use of professional seal as a distinctive mark for all Brokers in the fold of the NCRIB, an initiative that the Commissioner for Insurance applauded noting it would aid the Commission’s regulatory oversight over Brokers.

 He also expressed the resolve of the Brokers to collaborate and support the initiatives behind the Webb Aggregators, noting it would lead to greater creativity and spread of insurance brokers’ presence in areas of the country where they were presently non-existent
Patoma Admin by — March 23, 2022 in Insurance 0
46th Assembly of FANAF to host in Dakar, Senegal May 23-25

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

The 46th General Assembly of the Federation of African National Insurance Companies (FANAF) will be held in a hybrid mode from 23 to 25 May 2022 in Dakar, Senegal. The theme of the event is “Systemic Risks: Insurance and Resilience”.

Three discussion panels are set up for this edition:

  • Panel 1: regulation and regulatory issues in the face of new systemic risks
  • Panel 2: Digital challenges in the era of systemic risks, business interruption excluding property damage
  • Panel 3: the new scope of risk management, consulting and insurance in the face of systemic risks

Online registration will start on 21 March 2022 on the following website: https://www.fanaf2022.com/

Interested parties are invited to contact:

The FANAF General Secretariat:

Mail: secretariatfanaf@fanaf.org

Telephone: 00 221 33 889 68 38

The office of the Association des Assureurs du Sénégal (AAS):

Mail: assistante@aas.sn

Telephone : 00 221 33 889 48 64

Patoma Admin by — March 21, 2022 in Insurance 0
CHI Pays Accident Claims Of NAIPCO Member 

By admin

 

Consolidated  Hallmark Insurance(CHI) Plc has paid accident claims of a member of the National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondents(NAIPCO), who had an incident recently.

The insurance firm, had, in October, renewed the Group Personal Accident Insurance cover worth N24 million Sum Assured given for free to insurance journalists in the country.

The said member was crossing the road when a motorcycle riding against traffic hit her from behind which led to her being hospitalised.

However, covered under the free group personal  accident cover issued to NAIPCO, CHI stepped in to pay the hospital bills of the member while the victim  has been discharged from the hospital and she now in good health.

This gesture, according to the company, is part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) project, to ensure that journalists who are exposed to danger and hazard in the discharge of their civic duties are adequately protected.

Reacting to this development, the group managing director/CEO, CHI, Mr. Eddie Efekoha, said, this gesture is to show the kind of values and respect his insurance firm has for journalism, believing, journalists, who are the shaper of the society, and by extension, the insurance industry, must be protected.

Journalism, he said, is a risky profession, hence, the need to adequately provide insurance for those covering the insurance industry.

Applauding the initiative, the chairman, National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondents(NAIPCO), Mr. Chuks Udo Okonta,  thanked the insurance firm on the claims it paid, stating that, this is a testimony that insurance works and that insurers are actually paying genuine claims.

He applauded the insurer for its prompt response to the claim request, pointing out that, the company was cooperative through out the claim processing.

Okonta also noted that similar claim was paid to a member who was involved in an accident in the past.

The Group Personal Accident Insurance covers death, permanent disability and medical expenses.

The policy, now in its 10th years, has been running since 2012, and is renewed annually by the company. The cover, was renewed on the 1st of October, 2021 and it is due to expire on 30th of September, 2022.

The policy cover all members of the National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondents(NAIPCO) across the country while the company has promised to continue to renew the coverage for the journalists every year.

Patoma Admin by — March 20, 2022 in Insurance 0
Russian insurers banned from dealing foreign companies

By admin

 

Russian insurers are no longer allowed to do business with insurers, reinsurers and brokers from states deemed hostile to Russia.

This decision follows a wave of economic sanctions imposed by Western countries on Russia after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The countries involved include the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Singapore, Taiwan and all European Union (EU) states. The legislation signed by President Putin also gives the Bank of Russia’s Board of Directors the authority to decide which bonds are not subject to transfer by an insurer to a national insurance or reinsurance company.

The bank is also authorized to determine the data that financial organizations have the right to withhold from the general public. The aim is to prevent hostile states from imposing sanctions using such data.

Several European and American insurance companies have declared the suspension of their activities with Russian companies. They include Swiss Re, Hannover Re, Allianz, Zurich Insurance, Generali, Willis Towers Watson (WTW), Marsh McLennan and Aon.

Patoma Admin by — March 20, 2022 in Insurance 0
Munich Are withdraws from Russian business

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

Leading reinsurer Munich Re announced that it is withdrawing from its business in Russia because of the Ukraine war.

“Existing contracts in Russia and Belarus will not be renewed,” the Munich-based company said on its website Wednesday. The same applies to Munich Re’s investments in the region.

Exceptions will only be made if ending business “would negatively affect persons or companies worthy of protection” and provided this would be permissible under the current sanctions, the company explained.

“The events of the last few days have unsettled us all deeply,” Munich Re chief executive Joachim Wenning said in a statement. “Russia’s invasion constitutes a violation of international law.”

Munich Re also voiced its support for the sanctions imposed on Moscow by Western nations, “also in the knowledge that they will not remain without consequences for our national economies.”

Patoma Admin by — March 17, 2022 in Insurance 0
Curacel launches Curacel Grow to help distribute insurance products

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

African insurance infrastructure startup, Curacel, is taking insurance business in Nigeria to a new level with the launch of Curacel Grow.

Curacel Grow, is an embedded insurance product that empowers technology companies to seamlessly offer insurance as part of their existing products and services.

The startup is also part of the Winter 2022 cohort of Silicon Valley’s prestigious Y Combinator accelerator, joining the growing list of successful African startups that have participated in and benefitted from the program.

Curacel is launching Grow to support more effective distribution of insurance to millions of Africans through partners like Barter by Flutterwave, Float, Payhippo and other leading technology companies. The startup will also enable seamless embedding of insurance in customer user journeys. With Curacel Grow, airlines will be able to offer travel insurance to their customers through simple APIs.

Automotive dealers will also be able to seamlessly sell insurance to customers as a value-added service. Curacel has built its market leading infrastructure that powers claims and fraud protection for forward thinking insurers like AXA Mansard and Old Mutual, and this expansive network of underwriters enables the distribution of insurance at scale.

Insurance penetration in Africa currently stands at less than 3 percent, with most policies sold offline and manually via brokers and agents. This cumbersome process makes insurance products expensive and out of reach for many price-sensitive Africans. As a result, market penetration of insurance products in Africa is half of the global average and premiums per capita are 11 times lower than the global average. The insurance industry in Africa also represents less than one percent of insured catastrophe losses worldwide, although it’s home to almost 17 percent of the global population. This suggests that there is significant scope for growth.

With Grow, insurers can accelerate the distribution of their products by taking advantage of Curacel’s technology to easily embed insurance within other digital experiences in a more accessible way. Technology companies can also increase their recurring revenue by offering the protection their consumers need without the hassle of finding integration and negotiating terms with insurers and brokers. The solution is designed to integrate seamlessly with any technology platform and Curacel’s AI-powered infrastructure means claims can be submitted and processed in real time.

Commenting on the new product, Henry Mascot, CEO and co-founder of Curacel, said, “risk protection is a major consideration for Africa’s growing middle class. As it becomes easier to access credit and other financial services to enable new experiences, we want to make it easier to protect these experiences and enjoy them with full confidence. The success of various technology companies over the years has opened the door to many previously underserved people and we want to take advantage of this to accelerate the penetration of much needed insurance products across the continent.”

Curacel has a presence in 8 countries across Africa, enabling insurers to connect with digital distribution channels and administer their claims cost-effectively.

Patoma Admin by — March 17, 2022 in Insurance 0
Hospitality, Leisure, Tourism most affect by Pandemic- Allianz Risk barometer 2022

-by admin

 

This risk receives the top ranking after Covid-19 led to large-scale business closures and supply chain disruption globally and brought tourism and aviation industries to an abrupt halt.

However, while the pandemic continues to overshadow the economic outlook in this industry, encouragingly, businesses do feel they have adapted well.

“When asked how prepared their company is for a future event, the majority (80%) of Allianz Risk Barometer respondents believe they are ‘adequately’ or ‘well prepared’, although only 9% feel ‘very well prepared’. However, just 11% feel ‘inadequately prepared’. Initiating or improving business continuity management is the main action companies are taking to make them more resilient,” says Thusang Mahlangu, Chief Executive Officer at Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) South Africa.

The Allianz Risk Barometer is an annual survey from AGCS which incorporates the views of 2,650 experts in 89 countries and territories, including CEOs, risk managers, brokers and insurance experts, on the top risks facing their company or industry sector. For the hospitality, leisure and tourism sector, 57% of respondents ranked pandemic outbreak as the top risk, followed by business interruption (BI) (39%) and cyber (25%). Natural catastrophes (22%) and climate change (18%) closes out the top five risks in the sector in fourth and fifth positions respectively. View the full industry sector, global and country risk rankings. Watch the video.

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), in 2019 the travel and tourism industry accounted for about seven percent of Africa’s GDP and contributed $169 billion to its economy and employed more than 24 million people. However, in July 2020, the African Union estimated that Africa lost nearly $55 billion in travel and tourism revenues and two million jobs in only the first three months of the pandemic. According to the UN’s World Tourism Organization survey most people said they did not expect to return to pre-pandemic levels before 2023 at best. 41% of respondents said they expect the return to normal only in 2024 or later.

Business interruption ranks as the second most concerning risk in the industry. According to the survey, the most feared cause of BI is cyber incidents, demonstrating the impact of companies’ growing reliance on digitalization and the shift to remote working. Natural catastrophes and pandemic are the two other important triggers for BI in the view of respondents, also reflecting the fact that many of the top risks and consequences for the industry are interlinked

Cyber incidents is a new entry into the top five risks for hospitality, leisure and tourism companies in third position The main driver is the recent surge in ransomware attacks. Recent attacks have shown worrying trends such as ‘double extortion’ tactics combining the encryption of systems with data breaches. In addition, there is also a trend for supply chain incidents where hackers target technology or software supply chains, physical critical infrastructure or digital single points of failure; exploiting software vulnerabilities which potentially affect thousands of companies (for example, Log4J, Kaseya). Cyber security also ranks as companies’ major environmental, social and governance (ESG) concern with respondents acknowledging the need to build resilience and plan for future outages or face the growing consequences from regulators, investors and other stakeholders.

“Ransomware has become a big business for cyber criminals, who are refining their tactics, lowering the barriers to entry for as little as a $40 subscription and little technological knowledge. The commercialization of cyber crime makes it easier to exploit vulnerabilities on a massive scale,” explains Santho Mohapeloa, Senior Cyber Underwriter at AGCS.

Natural catastrophes ranks fourth as recent years have shown the frequency and severity of weather events are increasing due to global warming. For 2021, global insured catastrophe losses were well in excess of $100bn – the fourth highest year on record. Allianz Risk Barometer respondents are concerned about climate-change related weather events causing damage to corporate property (57%), followed by BI and supply chain impact (41%). However, they are also worried about managing the transition of their businesses to a low-carbon economy (36%), fulfilling complex regulation and reporting requirements and avoiding potential litigation risks for not adequately taking action to address climate change (34%).

“The pressure on businesses to act on climate change has increased noticeably over the past year, with a growing focus on net-zero contributions,” observes Thusang. “There is a clear trend for companies towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions in operations or exploring business opportunities for climate-friendly technologies and sustainable products. In the coming years, many corporate decision-makers will be looking even more closely at the impact of climate risks in their value chain and taking appropriate precautions. Many companies are building up dedicated competencies around climate risk mitigation, bringing together both risk management and sustainability experts.”

Businesses also have to become more weatherproof against extreme events such as flooding. “Previous once-in-a-century-events may well occur more frequently in future and also in regions which were considered ‘safe’ in the past. Both buildings and business continuity planning need to become more robust in response,” says Thusang.

Patoma Admin by — March 17, 2022 in Insurance 0
Russian insurers banned from dealing with foreign companies

By admin

 

Russian insurers are no longer allowed to do business with insurers, reinsurers and brokers from states deemed hostile to Russia.

This decision follows a wave of economic sanctions imposed by Western countries on Russia after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The countries involved include the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Singapore, Taiwan and all European Union (EU) states. The legislation signed by President Putin also gives the Bank of Russia’s Board of Directors the authority to decide which bonds are not subject to transfer by an insurer to a national insurance or reinsurance company.

The bank is also authorized to determine the data that financial organizations have the right to withhold from the general public. The aim is to prevent hostile states from imposing sanctions using such data.

Several European and American insurance companies have declared the suspension of their activities with Russian companies. They include Swiss Re, Hannover Re, Allianz, Zurich Insurance, Generali, Willis Towers Watson (WTW), Marsh McLennan and Aon.

Patoma Admin by — March 17, 2022 in Insurance 0
Insurance companies charged to automate, improve business operations

By Favour Nnabugwuh

The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has advised insurance  companies to sustain a competitive edge by automating, improving and optimizing their business processes without compromising efficiency, quality and response time.

The Head, Information Technology, NAICOM, Abiodun Aribike at the NAICOM 2022 retreat for Financial Journalists in Uyo Akwa Ibom State, maintained the sector needs to align with new technology, innovations, changing environment,  developments and changing customer expectation.
The reason behind that will help boost employee productivity, speed-up processes, raise customer service levels, improve customer experiences, reduce operational expenses and increase operational efficiency.
“The Insurance Industry is currently lagging behind and needs to reassess its business model, re-evaluate their strategy and make the digital agenda a high priority. If this is not done it will be difficult to deliver on customers’ expectations’.
 “It is time for Insurers to evolve and respond. This will require a different set of skills, culture and operating model.
Highlighting some of the processes industry need to catch with include: KYC verification, Customer Onboarding, Underwriting, Claims Processing and Policy Administration and Regulatory Compliance should be automated”, he reiterated.
He cited an example such as AI-powered underwriting solutions are already saving up to 97 percent of the time and resources that were traditionally required, enabling the corporate underwriter to specialize in cases that require deeper thought and analysis.
Also Aribike mentioned Robotic Process Automation, RPA, which reproduces human actions as closely as possible can be used to automate recurring IT tasks in the back office, front office and support levels and frees up to 30 percent of the user’s time. Staff can therefore focus on actions with higher added value

He noted that the adoption of technologies such as, Cloud computing; Mobile technology; Artificial intelligence (AI); Distributed ledger technology and Blockchain and Internet of things, will help in providing digital solutions for increased insurance penetration.

Howbeit, he said it does not indicate how many people have insurance coverage, the quality of the coverage and the value it provides for insurance consumers
Nigeria Insurance Market Penetration rates for the past 6 years are   0.48 percent in 2016 to 0.54 percent in 2017 then to 0.61 percent in 2018 moved to  0.71 percent in 2019 further to  0.72 percent in 2020 and   0.88 percent in 2021
“An estimated 2 percent Nigerian Adults are covered by Insurance today.
The low Insurance penetration can be increased through the Digital technology has taken the world by storm affecting, changing and improving the way things are done”
According to Aribike, “It  is disrupting traditional operating structures and Industries such as telecommunications, media, entertainment and consumer products have been impacted in the way they attract and retain customers.”.
Patoma Admin by — March 14, 2022 in Insurance 0