Insurance Industry’s Assets Rise To N1.61trn

The Nigerian insurance industry’s assets rose to N1.61tn at the end of the 2019 financial year from N1.26tn in 2018.

The Central Bank of Nigeria disclosed this in its report, titled ‘Insurance sector (general and life) consolidated balance sheet’, obtained by our correspondent on Sunday.

The Nigerian Insurers Association also said in its 2019 report that the total businesses underwritten in the industry rose by 15.55 per cent from N413.8bn in 2018 to N490bn in 2019.

On the ongoing recapitalisation, the association noted that in May 2019, the National Insurance Commission introduced new capital levels for insurance and reinsurance companies operating in the Nigerian market.

It said, “This was followed with a circular requesting individual company’s recapitalisation plan in July 2019.

“While member companies were making efforts to meet the new capital levels, the leadership of the association continued with its engagements with the commission with a view to resolving some grey areas with regard to the guidelines for the exercise as well as the definition and components of capital.”

The NIA said it also had an interface with other stakeholders whose activities and functions would impact on the exercise.

The association said it expected that the various initiatives embarked on, in conjunction with other stakeholders, would further deepen insurance penetration and encourage insurance uptake by the public.

According to the report, the initiatives include financial inclusion, microinsurance, the insurance industry rebranding project, the USSD initiative, and the Nigerian insurance industry platform for the sale of third-party motor insurance.

The association said it would continue to encourage and support activities aimed at increasing public confidence in the industry.