Olabisi Adekola
* Pays N9.36bn claims
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Chuks Udo Okonta
Foremost life insurer, African Alliance Insurance Plc., has reported a 41 per cent rise in her Gross Premium Written (GPW) according to its 2019 full year financial statement.
According to the details of the statement, the 60-year-old company recorded N7.29bn premium in 2019 against N5.17bn in 2018 representing a 41 per cent growth year on year while its life fund grew by 16 per cent from N38.99bn to N45.33bn in the same period under review.
The increase in both premium generated and the life fund lend credence to the company’s strong customer base, continued acceptance as well as a robust sales drive across both retail and corporate lines of business.
The firm demonstrated relentless commitment to its teeming consumers by paying claims totalling N9.36bn as against N8.78bn the previous year, a seven per cent increase year-on-year rise.
While speaking to the financials, the Executive Director, Finance, Olabisi Adekola, credited the increased revenue to shrewd underwriting and better communication of the value of insurance to the retail market. “We have grown our retail business to become much more profitable and have supported their sales efforts with targeted communication both above the line and below the line.
Unfortunately, while we obviously made more sales, we paid much more claims which impacted negatively on our balance sheet,” She said.
“The bulk of our claims was in annuity the business of which has been affected by our operating environment vis-à-vis the average market rate and limited investment vehicles. We all know annuity business is basically about hedging assets against contract liabilities, so when the market forces are unfavourable, returns on investment will be affected too,” she added.
She further expressed confidence in the firm’s ability to turn the bend going by its corporate strategy. “Our strategy has been to keep growing our market share via aggressive sales drive, adoption of digital technology and capital injection. We own viable assets home and abroad which we are certain would aid our quest to capitalize. Indeed, our recapitalisation plans is key to our bounce-back strategy,” she said.
African Alliance Insurance Plc., is one of Nigeria’s oldest insurers having been established in 1960. The firm pioneered the sales and marketing of takaful insurance in the Nigerian insurance market and has presence pan-Nigeria.
