Insurance

FIN Insurance hosts partners, unveils plans to boost operations

From left: Executive Director FIN Insurance Limited, Ademola Abidogun; Head Technical, Joyce Odiachi; Managing Director, Binji Bashir and Head Finance, Taiwo David at the event in Lagos.

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In a quest to bolstering the relationship with its stakeholders, FIN Insurance Limited, a member of the Cornerstone Group recently held a breakfast meeting with Insurance Brokers in Lagos.

The event which held on Tuesday, June 25, 2019, at Radisson Blu Anchorage offered the over 50 insurance brokers in attendance a platform to interface with the Company’s management and also to explore areas of improvement.

Reacting to the feelers from the meeting, Managing Director of FIN, Mr. Bashir Binji said FIN Insurance hopes to leverage on the services offered by brokers to expand its presence across the nation especially in the southern part of the country.

He said the event was an avenue for the company to hear from the brokers and improve on areas of observations. “From the faces of dignitaries here, one could deduce that the narratives have changed. We have strong financials, but it looks as if most of our partners here today were not aware of that. As evident in the presentation to our key partners, FIN has been a profitable company and we are happy that this is enough to boost our key partners’ confidence – Now the confidence has been boosted. We have also made known to the brokers all our management staff, who they can now reach on a one-on-one.

“By and large, from comments received, they are now very happy and pleased. Another thing that came up from the meeting is the comments and observations made which is good, as it would enable us to improve on our services. Going forward, we will continue to engage them and assign our staff to render better services,” he said.

On the firm’s financial performance, Binji noted that the 2018 Financials approved by National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) shows that the company has already achieved 60 per cent of what it needs for recapitalization, adding that in line with the directives from the regulator which mandate general business underwriters to raise their capital from N3 billion to N10 billion, FIN Insurance right now has N6 billion capital.

Mr. Bashir maintained that the company is doing a lot of work to see how it can improve its Financials before the end of 2019. “I am sure by that time, our financials will have significantly improved. We have the support of our shareholders. What we are thinking is to surpass the minimum limit,” he added.

Furthermore, he said the firm wants to have some safety margin, hence, it is looking at smaller companies with good ethics, which could join it either through merger or acquisitions. “We are talking with two companies but we are still at a preliminary stage and details are confidential. However, several options are open to us on how to enlarge our operations”

Mr. Bashir also spoke on what the firm is doing in the area of retail business: “We are doing a lot as regards retail business and we encourage direct marketing by our staff and can boast of over 1600 agents who sell to small businesses”

“The company is presently pursuing approval of Agric Insurance products so that it can reach-out to farmers. All these are being done to boost the retail segment of the business. We are also looking at some products we will do in conjunction with communication companies so that we would have mobile insurance and reach millions of Nigerians,” he posited.

The FIN Insurance boss said plans are in top gear to partner with two banks for bancassurance business agreements. He said the company hopes to leverage the banks to deploy its products through their branches.

On the use of technology in driving the firm’s operations, he stressed that all the company’s operations are digitalized, adding that the firm has a robust software and that some of its products are on sale online.

FIN’s MD affirmed the edge the Company has in the northern parts of the country saying the region has always been the firm’s market. “We are well entrenched and very comfortable with our operations in the North. But for us to be a very big player, we have to play in the Lagos market for the big businesses like, oil and gas, aviation which are predominantly domiciled here. Also, majority of the brokers are resident in Lagos. This is why we moved our head office to Lagos, whilst retaining some top executives in the North to oversee the already established businesses we have there,” he added.

He concluded by urging the public to embrace insurance which he said remains the best instrument to protect lives and properties and mitigate risks.

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