Insurance Experts Advocate Increased Collaboration to Achieve Growth

Experts in the insurance industry have called for increased collaboration with relevant stakeholders in order to achieve a projected N1.5 trillion gross premium growth.

Disclosing this in a presentation at the KPGM Insurance Conference 2017, the Chairman, Wapic Insurance Plc, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, urged operators in the industry to play in line with the strength of their capital, adding that a lot of insurance businesses were being given to foreign because the sector does not have the required capacity.

Aig-Imoukhuede, who was represented by the Executive Director of Wapic Insurance, Mr. Oyebode Ojeniyi, further explained that there was need to increase the industry’s capital base five times of what it is presently and build an industry driven by innovation and established robust consumer protection framework.

He added: “People have grown to trust their banks, so when as an insurance company you ride on the back of a bank; you are more liable be acceptance than going alone. Today, the regulator has stifled almost all the channels that will enable insurance products to be distributed through other channels even through telecommunications.

“It is for the regulator and the operators to look at all the things that will enable transformation in banking and begin to tweak it to suit the insurance industry and see how the industry will transform from there. The insurance industry should start transforming itself.

“If we increase capacity body in terms of capital base and go in terms of the skill set within the industry, we will be able to retain more of the businesses in the industry than taking them to the London market to do and technically that increases the Gross Writing Premium (GWP) and the income that is retained by insurance company within the country. The level of interest that has been shown in conferences and initiatives of this nature implies that the regulator is interested in seeing the industry grow.”

In his remarks, the Deputy Commissioner, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) George Onekhena, explained that capital availability depends on the risk profile, adding that stakeholders in the sector should not wait, but examine their businesses and ensure that they have enough capital.

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