Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2015
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CE & YOU
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If NAICOM aims to achieve success in the implementation of compulsory insurance products, it should liaise with the federal government for government to put its seal on the products
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Online car insurance debuts in Nigeria By Onozure Dania
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Registrar/CEO Chartered Institute of Personnel Management, Mr Sunday Adeyemi; President, Mr. Anthony Arabome and Human Resources Manager, Honeywell Flour Mills Plc, Mr Tunde Adebayo, during the award presentation of Overall Winner 2015 CIPM HR Best Practice Awards to Honeywell, in Abuja did with the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS. Recall that PenCom partnered with the federal government to ensure that individuals or bodies seeking to do business or looking for contract with the federal government must show proof of compliance with the CPS. In essence, PenCom has been issuing Compliance Certificates to organisations bidding or soliciting for contracts with Federal Government Ministries, Department and Agencies in line with the provision of Section 16 (6) (d) of the Public Procurement Act, 2007. The Certificate has replaced the
erstwhile Letters of Compliance that were issued for the same purpose. Oshin said, “If the seal of the federal government is on the compulsory insurance products, all the people that are not taking part will do so. We should work to see what can be done in that regard.”
Different insurances He said, “The potential of the market for growth is huge. The enforcement of the different insurances would kick-start a new phase of opportunities for growth and expansion of the
insurance sector.” Recall that PenCom recently rejected the applications of 210 employers who sought compliance certificates to enable them bid for government contracts, because they failed to meet the necessary requirements. PenCom said it received 1,050 applications for issuance of compliance certificates in the first quarter of this year, of which 840 employers were issued certificates while the remaining applications were rejected on the ground that they did not meet the requirements.
BMI foresees 70% growth of Nigeria’s non-life insurance by 2016
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USINESS Monitor International (BMI) a global research firm has predicted that with a share of nearly 70 percent in total written non-life premiums by 2016, non-life insurance is by far the more important segment in Nigeria’s insurance sector. Notably, with insurance penetration rates of around 0.2 percent, non-life insurance is only slightly more developed than life insurance, BMI said adding, “We have a positive outlook for both Nigeria’s life and non-life insurance segments over the coming C M Y K
years”. The firm noted that key growth drivers reside in the country’s improving economic conditions, which means that with rising incomes and a growing middle class, increasingly more Nigerians will be able to afford long term and short-term insurance contracts as their rates of auto and home ownership increase. “We note, however, that currency movements due to falling oil prices and national security issues may weigh on the growth potential of life and non-life premiums.
We expect, however, that life insurance will continue to outpace its non-life counterpart over the next five years, which means that increasingly more Nigerians are recognising the benefits of life insurance” it said. Overall, both major segments will show rapid growth rates over the foreseeable future, which to a large extent are related to Nigeria’s economic development, BMI predicted.
N online car insurance company, Topcheck, has started its operation in Nigeria. The insurance company is an online car insurance website where users go to compare prices of car insurance available and their benefits before buying insurance online. The company which said that it’s changing the way people buy insurances with an innovative online platform and simplified purchasing process, noted that the online platform which is a German holding, targeted at Nigeria, will be Nigeria’s car insurance aggregator and it promises to help the customer perceive insurance market more transparently and navigate the market easily. Speaking during the unveiling of the company in Lagos, Thomas Von Pilar, Co-founder and Managing Director of Topcheck said that the company is bringing car insurance online in a bid to make it available to millions of internet users and at the same time make it much easier and convenient. He said that a lot of people don’t have car insurance in Nigeria, that is why Topcheck, has decided to bring German technology into Nigeria and help people get insurance. “We need to help people get insurance that will help them protect themselves and their families this is what motivated us to bring internet car insurance to Nigeria.” Pilar further stated that in Topcheck’s platform, consumers can buy car insurance within 10 minutes without going anywhere or without needing to visit an office, thereby increasing convenience and the reach. According to him, “Traditionally, insurance in Nigeria has been very weak but there are lots of efforts in the industry to strengthen insurance as a product and make it much more effective for the customer. We partner with trusted security companies.
Security measures We apply all security measures we can and our customers can be 100 percent sure that their data and systems are 100 percent secured.” Pilar also disclosed that Topcheck has partnered with various top companies and investors to give customers value for their money, some of the top companies include Mountain Partners, Trivago, Jumia and Comparis.ch amongst others. Also speaking at the unveiling, Christian Wiesner, who is also a Co-Founder & Managing Director, of Topcheck stated that the success of Topcheck is mostly dependent on the satisfaction of customers and in that regard, they try to deliver the best customer service possible, adding that if someone has a claim, and calls Topcheck’s customer service, they will facilitate communication between the customer and the insurance companies concerned. “In Topcheck, we educate and inform people on the internet with our platform. We make it easy for people to understand what insurance is and what it does for the customers and we promote the factors on how insurance grow in the future,” he said. While pointing out some of the challenges facing the company, Wiesner said that the challenges are related to the infrastructures, bureaucracies and lack of transparency that create a painful experience when people needs to buy insurances. He noted that other challenges are peculiar to the nature of the business. However, he said that the company is working towards becoming the largest insurance comparism platform in Nigeria as well as on the African continent and becoming a major player in all other financial services.
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