thisday0520

32 THISDAY • WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2015
BUSINESSWORLD
NEWS
NAICOM Dissolves Board of IEI,
Appoints Interim Board
Ebere Nwoji
Insurance industry regulator,
the National Insurance
Commission (NAICOM) has
announced the dissolution of the
Board of International Energy
Insurance (IEI) and Mhas set
up a three-member interim
board to oversee the affairs of
the company while necessary
investigation is being conducted.
Announcing the dissolution,
NAICOM ‘s spokesman Rasaaq
Salami said as part of the
commission’s intervention, the
chief executive officer and some
key officers of the company
would proceed on leave to pave
way for a thorough investigation
of the affairs of the company.
“The action is pursuant to
the powers conferred on the
commission by enabling laws
to intervene in the affairs of the
company as a result of financial
reporting failures, allegations
made against some of the
directors, and board squabbles
necessitating regulatory action
in the interest of policyholders
and other stakeholders of the
company.
He said members of the
interim board include the
former Director-General of the
National Pension Commission
(PENCOM), Muhammad
Ahmad, who will serve as
its chairman, a former Commissioner
of the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC),
Ms. Daisy Ekineh and a onetime
acting Managing Director
of Societe Bancaire Nigeria
Ltd (now Unity Bank Plc in
Consolidation), Mrs. Bridget
Ibiyemi Adeyinka.
Salami said the board is
mandated to conduct forensic
investigation into the affairs
of the company and identify
factors and persons responsible
for the erosion of shareholders’
value.
“The appointment which
takes immediate effect shall
be for an initial period of six
months, subject to renewal, if
necessary”, he said.
Leadway Assurance
Launches Family Product
Leadway Assurance Company
Limited has launched a
new Life product named the
Leadway Family Benefit Plan
Plus (LFBPP). The product is
a multi-life policy designed to
cover funeral expenses for the
assured lives (spouse, parents
and/or parents-in-law that are
named in the policy) and the
policy holder (person who
purchased the policy). The
policy helps to alleviate and
bury the worries associated
with the funerals for elderly
loved ones.
Giving details of the new
product, Head, Life Retail, Mr.
Femi Adebayo, explained that
the policy provided funeral
benefits in respect of all the
assured lives as long as
their death preceded that of
the policyholder. The policy
also provided other benefits
including offering additional
monthly payments to the
beneficiaries of the policyholder
in the event of his demise. The
Family Benefit Plan Plus, he
said, was one of the ways in
which Leadway Assurance
was making life beautiful
for its customers.
Also speaking at the
product launch held at the
Corporate office of Leadway
Assurance in Lagos on
Wednesday, the General
Manager, Life Division, Mr.
Shadrack Sivhugwana said
he expected that the “demand
for Funeral insurance will be
the main driver of insurance
growth in Africa in the next
couple years.”
He urged the public to take
advantage of the new product
and be prepared when the inevitable
happened. Established
over 45 years ago, Leadway
is a composite insurance
company underwriting both
Life and General Insurance
business with 23 branches
spread across Nigeria.
PRODUCT LAUNCH
L-R:Head, Mass Market Segment, Etisalat, ldowu Adesokan; Chief Marketing Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Francesco Angelone; Manager,
High Value Prepaid, Chinelo Mbanefo and Director, Consumer Segment, Oluwole Rawa at the launch of Etisalat Easylife 4.0 limited
Edition in Lagos...recently
abiodun ajala
ODUKHALE: RETAIL INSURANCE IS THE ONLY WAY TO DEVELOP NIGERIAN INSURANCE INDUSTRY
Toyota or Honda, it is your choice, it depends
on what you want you cannot say this product
is a better product .programme withdrawal, sets
of payment coming over a period guaranteed
.Annuity may be for life so they are different
programmes even in some countries abroad
where they used to have annuity alone , they
are now encouraging programme
withdrawal also. So let the people make up
their minds on what they want. Every market
should give people opportunity of a choice. So
I think is good for our system to have annuity
and programme withdrawal let the people make
up their mind on what they want. And they are
not very complicated programmes so you can
read it. Get conversant with whatever you want.
So there is space for everybody.Some people
are happy with their programme withdrawal,
some people are happy with their annuity.
Each time you discuss with players in
other Industry like banks,they keep on
saying that insurance industry has a lot
of fringe players.They feel that the best
way to grow the market is consolidation
through mergers and acquisitions what is
your view on that?
I think you may not be totally wrong if
you say that we still have a good number of
insurance companies.But you know sometimes in
some economies,you have insurance companies
that want to do only one mono product. Now
should their capital be the same with the ones
that want to insure plane? I don’t think so.
So it is not just size , you may have your
niche, like you know in the banking now you
have national bank , you have international
bank with different capital base, an insurance
company may say I want to do this kind of
product only, I think they should be able to have
choice you do that one product, you specialise
on it and be a master on it.
The regulator prefers industry advertisement
to product advertisement, what s your
position on that?
When you talk about insurance product, you
are talking about insurance industry.
It is the same subject.when you talk about
insurance industry or say buy insurance, it doesn’t
really hit it until you talk about a product,
when you talk about the product people can
have a kind of connection with the production
because that product is the something that suits
them. But if you just talk about insurance, it is
okey but you may not get a kind of impact like
when you talk about our Family Benefit Plus.
Now you may say do I need this product or
not,you may ask yourself this kind of question
but when you talk about insurance, you may say
okey insurance but I will tell you that as much
as insurance companies advertise any oftheir
products, it is a plus for the insurance industry.
There has been a lot of reforms in the
insurance industry particularly from the
National Insurance Commission and one
of them is the No premium No Cover and
the Risk Based Supervision I will like you
to access how far this has impacted on the
industry?
I think we have a very strong vibrant NAICOM
now and I think most of us in the industry are very
happy with our commission, they are pushing us
very hard but they are pushing us to the right
direction. Now we have overcome the issue of
no premium no cover, that has been an issue the
insurance industry has been battling with for
years now. But now the commission has come
up with something that is working beautifully
well.Yes you still see a bit of outstanding here
and there or whatever but it is something we
can manage. Now Risk Based Supervision, that
is where we are all going into right now, that
is where the world is also right now, because
you should look at the key risk that affects a
particular company and target that area, that
is what they do abroad right now. You know,
you may look at this extra company,they do a
lot of this product, let me look at that, are they
doing it very well, let me focus on that and you
narrow on that and look at it very well. Now
for instance, if you have a new product, lets
say annuity is new in the Industry and you
have motor business which is as old as it is ,
you are not going to spend the same length of
time inspecting the insurance company’s book
on motor and on annuity business, that is it so
you focus on areas where there is competition
of risks as you see it.So when you are inspecting
or you are looking at companies, you look at
companies differently because you look at areas
of the company where you see challenges or
where you think that you need to work on and
you focus on that area.If you go to another
company they have a different issue, you focus
on that area so I think it is very positive and
it is going on right.
The issue of capacity in oil and gas business
underwriting in Nigeria has been a
recurring issue even with the oil and gas
pull formed by the industry. In the face
of the pull can you say the Industry can
underwrite oil and gas business 100 percent?
Every business that comes to Nigeria we
underwrite hundred percent.When we issue a
policy in the market, we sign the policy hundred
percent so I don’t see the need for cry about
oil and gas its not different from like when
we are insuring a big building, or a marine
business or a marine hall business which we
sign hundred percent also so I don’t see the
cry about oil and gas. In every business we do
reinsurance and where we have the excess that
is above our capacity, we reinsure the business
but we do the business hundred percent.
What is the future of the industry like
More competitors are coming into the
industry I mean foreign players are coming
into the industry what does this portend
to the future of the industry?
It is a bright future when more people come.
they will throw more capital into the business
and make the business more competitive and
tough and they will raise the barrier to entry
which is good because they are coming with
a lot of capital. So it will take the industry
to a different level. So I don’t see any thing
negative in that.
The foreign players, are they in any way
a threat to the local players ?
I think we will all co exist together. It will not
be easy except if we too are very lazy but at
the end of the day, the consumer will get a better
product because there will be competition but
if the local players are not up to it, okey that is
their own challenge. And if they don’t do the
business very well, that is their headache
all these things are just for me looking at
the consumer, because if you are buying
any insurance product now, you are buying
it from a local or foreign company what
do you care for when you have a claim,
your claim is paid,is that not what you
care for? that is what matters, also there
will be regulation and the regulators will
like to make sure that people play by the
books.It is good for us to develop strong
local companies because our companies can
also go abroad and be champion abroad
but we should get there but is not just by
saying we want to play because you are
a Nigerian you must do it properly, you
must have a structure and build a good
company is possible but not just by fiat,
you must do your product very well respond
to people very well. Leadway used to be
a company in Kaduna before we started
from the north, we were local company in
the north in Kaduna but we came here,we
have to prove ourselves to also exist here
and be accepted in the market here.So be it
local, be it international be it anything you
must serve the people properly, you must sell
your product so well that they will believe in
you and deliver good service that is the only
thing that will take you there.