Wednesday 09 May 2018
C002D5556
BUSINESS DAY
27
E-mail: insurancetoday@businessdayonline.com
L-R: Kemi Oluwasina, executive director, Business Development & Strategy;Umar Sanda Mairami,managing director/CEO; Mosun Belo-Olosuga, Independent Director and Kabir Tijani, executive director Business Development and Investment during Premium Pension Limited 13th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at the Corporate headquarters of the company in Abuja
L-R: Remi Babalola, chair,man of the Company; Jide Orimolade, managing director/CEO and Funmilola Ekundayo, director at the 49th Annual General Meeting of the Company held in Lagos
Babington-Ashaye Insurance penetration gets a boost as Universal brings Nollywood Actors on board reaffirms need for Stories by Modestus Anaesoronye
T
he efforts to increase insurance penetration in A f r i c a’s m o s t populated country has received a boost with signing of partnership agreement between Universal Insurance Plc and Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) for group personal accident policy for members of the group. The Group Personal Accident Policy is designed to provide some level of benefits to the practitioners for death, permanent disability and medical expenses in the event of a loss occuring. Nigeria’s insurance industry is pushing to increase insurance penetration, from its less than 1 percent of the GPD, with a lot of initiatives including micro insurance, Takaful, agric insurance ad bancassurance. In d u s t r y re g u l a t o r,
the National Insurance commission(NAICOM) is positive to increase penetration with a lot of market development initiatives, which if keyed in by operators given a conducive business environment will make the Nigerian market a major player in Africa. The Nollywood Actors have about 150, 000 members spread across the country in its register and provides a good market for selling of insurance for a better benetration. The event, which attracted Who’s Who in the Nollywood industry saw the actors jubilating on the unveiling of the special package, according to some of them who spoke to the media, the development was a dream come true for actors who are always exposed to varying degrees of occupational hazards without any form of compensation. They believe that unveiling of the insurance cover for them symbolized unity of purpose and provided
sense of belonging and direction from the current team of excos to the members of the body. Emeka Rollas Ejezie, president of the group vowed to uphold the tenet of the AGN in ensuring that members are safe and in an event of the unforeseen circumstances such a member has something to fall back on in terms of compensation by insurance service providers. On whether he was satisfied with a one million naira death or permanent disability benefit per member, he said: “You know when you are starting something there are two risks that you are running, the company is running its risk and we are running a risk too. They are not dashing us money and we are not dashing them money as well. By the time we experiment it for one year and see what it looks like, then we are up it. He said he was delighted and overwhelmed that this
has to happen in his time. Also asked in affirmative what he would do if his members fail to comply with the new rule, he assured that after one month of grace those who refused to have insurance for their protection on stage would be barred from appearance. Explaining the policy contents, Ben Ujoatuonu, managing director/CEO Universal Insurance who packaged the policy stated that the policy has three features, which include the hospitalization, permanent disability, and death benefits if the unfortunate occurs to any member of the group. I am delighted in the sense that we have been able to achieve this by working together with the new leadership of AGN to ensure that we get something that will add value to them and give them a reason to belong to their association, so it is encouraging. I am also happy that Universal Insurance was able to work this out for the group.
Law Union and Rock grows profit by 66%, pays dividend
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nderwriting firm, Law Union & Insurance Plc despite the tough business environment in 2017 grew profit by 66.8 percent and paid dividend to shareholders. Remi Babalola, chairman of the Company said the company recorded good performance in 2017 with 8 percent growth in its top line, from gross premium of N3.94 billion in 2016 to N4.25 billion at the end of 2017. The Profit before tax of
N1.099billion was achieved compared to N659million recorded in 2016 which indicates a steady performance improvement of our Company. Total assets grew by 16.9 percent to N10.03 billion from N8.58 billion posted in 2016 financial year with a 28.6 percent growth in shareholders’ funds from N5.03 billion to N6.47bilion. The company also recorded a giant feat in its general reserves with retained earnings of N704 million from accumulated loss of
N24 million recorded in 2016. In recognition of this performance, the Company declared a cash dividend of 4Kobo per share for the financial year. Babalola said the company is stronger, better, bigger and more than ever before; with one of the highest ratings in Claim Paying Ability (CPA) in the industry. The Chairman also presented the new Executive Director, Technical/Operations Olasupo Sogelola and Kunle Aluko (non-executive director) to the shareholders. Both
appointment have been approved by the NAICOM. The Managing Director of the Company, Jide Orimolade in his speech said that the Company will not relent in delivery of the best service to the customers. According to him, the loyalty of the customers were very instrumental to the consistent growth of the Company’s topline in the past few years which has enable the company to eliminate its accumulated loss and able to cross to a positive retained earnings in 2017.
increased awareness to deepen penetration
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he president and chairman of council of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria(CIIN), Funmi Babington-Ashaye has reaffirmed commitment of the Institute and the industry to create awareness on the importance of insurance for the protection and sustenance of wealth. She said every effort put in place to create more awareness and make the public embrace insurance as part of their life and a major tool of financial planning was a worthwhile venture. Babington-Ashaye made the remark during the 2018 Fitness Walk of the insurance industry organised by the CIIN. She said the event was also an opportunity to make insurance practitioners appreciate the need for physical and mental fitness through exercise. “It is an annual event, but we want our members to make a daily routine because it is good for the body and the heart. And given the sedentary nature of our job, where most a times we sit from morning to night, it was important that people do regular exercises for fitness of the body and also for mental alertness.” The Fitness Walk commenced from Sterling Assurance Limited office along Ikorodu Road,
through Maryland and terminated at NEM Insurance Plc office on the other side of the road. She called on the public to transfer their risks to insurance companies, which are in business to help them preserve their lives and businesses. Babington-Ashaye noted that the Institute places high premium on awareness and education, adding that, this was why it has continued to donate insurance textbooks to schools across the country, as well as partnered the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to educate Youth Corps Members on how they can build a career in insurance through taking the institute’s examinations. She appreciated organisations for supporting the fitness/road show and enjoined them to sustain the oneness observed during the exercise. The Chairman of the event, Ajibola Ogunshola, who is the Chairman of Continental Reinsurance Plc, urged the operators to regularly observe fitness exercises and ensure they eat well. Ogunshola, who is 75 years old, joined the operators in the walk which commenced from Sterling Assurance Limited office, through Maryland and terminated at NEM Insurance Plc.