National Wire About Nigerians, Nigerian Business and Other Stories
The management of Sunu Assurances Nigeria Plc has lauded the insurance policy regulators, the National Insurance Commission (NICOM) for the capital raising initiative which prescribed increased capital for various categories of the players in the industry.
The capital buffing, would not only help to consolidate the sector providing more buoyant opportunities for large ticket transactions, but also positioned it as big players, instead of serving as agents to foreign insurance underwriters.
The commendation was made weekend in Lagos during the second quarter 2019, Capital Market Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CAMCAN) forum, with theme “Deepening insurance penetration through effective broker engagement” resonated that insurance brokers would have more creative roles to play in the towards harnessing the benefits of the new capital requirement.
The company’s managing Director, Samuel Ogbodu, in his address, at the event attended by key stakeholders, Sunu Assurances key management team officials, Insurance brokers, Risk consulting services consultants amongst others, said that the Nigerian insurance sector if rightly positioned, we take its right of place in the country’s insurance business as well as take up opportunities hitherto taken by foreign companies.
The Sunu Assurances CEO said that the scope remains large for deepening the insurance sector, if the regulators would further strengthen effort at implementing the compulsory housing and transport insurance policies.
The brokers he said are rightly positioned to drive the implementation of the compulsory housing policy, which he is valued at over N1 trillion” if you look at some estates in Lekki, Ikoyi and Victoria Island alone, securing policies for them would amount to over N500billon, and when you consider houses across the country, it will be over N1 trillion”
He said that the various efforts of boosting insurance sector contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to surpass its present 0.1 per cent level, would be accelerated by the new capital base requirement to enhance the sector input to 1 per cent.
Stressing the role of brokers in the sector, he said that the sector earnings are mainly due to the contributions of the brokers that stood at 80 per cent of total earnings. “’ without the brokers there won’t be insurance, they contribute about 80 per cent of earnings. We place very high premium on brokers”
Ogbodu said that brokers do not only act on the interest of insurance companies alone, they also cat on the interest of their clients, help in product developments, maintain high vast network, enhance negotiation, help towards risks mitigation, relate effectively with clients, handle policy renewals as well as helping clients to stay updated on policy and regulatory developments, among other services.
He said that both the retail brokers and Commercial Insurance Brokers, are rightly positioned to take up the fresh challenges the new capital requirement would throw up, for the utilization of new opportunities to expand insurance penetration in Nigeria by covering new grounds.
According to him, Sunu is positioned to take up the new challenges, having been rightly placed to meet up with the new capital requirement of N10 billion, even as the framework for the new policy was yet to be released.
He said that the new era would open door for new products, reducing challenge posed by liquidity, sector, strengthening financial inclusion, as well as re-opening new regulatory windows for regulators.
CEO of the company , said that Sunu , which has presence in over 14 countries , with 20 companies, , combines its robust product offering with unique technology driven by platform to proffer insurance management solutions at competitive cost to individual sad institutions.
Executive Director Strategy and performance, Karim Frank Dione, debunked negative appellation given to brokers, saying that”’ a lot of the brokers are doing the right thing.
Lauding recapitalization effort of the insurance sector, he said, “’ the movement to recapitalize, for the Sunu Group makes sense. The enforcement of regulatory policies also makes sense”
He said that the country requires stronger insurance sectors, to be driven by huge capital base, adding that the sector suffers from competition, but when the competition becomes excessive, it turns out to be counterproductive.
“we have competition which is good, but too much competition is destructive. We need to reduce the number of players in the industry, consolidate, propagate, demarcate strong players in the country, and propel the sector for higher ticket transactions’’
He said that the players need to have profitable businesses adding that the potential inherent in Nigeria in terms of size, potential, and resources ares seen as enormous for the Sunu Group and ready to met the new capital requirement.
“we are ready to comply, we are expecting that the policy guideline will soon be released, we need more clarifications. There are more opportunities in the sector, but the policies on housing insurance and transport insurance are not implemented.
