13th April, 2017
The Managing Director of Law, Union and Rock Insurance, Mr Jide Orimolade, on Thursday commended the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) on its efforts at sanitising the industry.
Orimolade told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on the sidelines of a news briefing on the company’s 2016 performance that NAICOM’s increased enforcement of regulations had restored sanity to the industry.
The Insurance Chief said the improved sanity in the industry was also improving its contribution to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
According to Orimolade, every sector and society needed strong enforcement of regulations to grow the sector.
“Every sector and society needs enforcement of laws and regulations that will bring order to the sector.
“Law, Union and Rock Insurance is not in any way against the enforcement of regulations, especially the code of governance and Risk-Based Supervision (RBS).
“With the renewed enforcement of RBS, the capital base of each insurance company will correlate to the risks it carries,’’ he said.
Orimolade also said that the Federal Government, through the commission, had expressed its readiness to support the growth of the insurance industry.
“It is now left for stakeholders to sit down and articulate ways to ensure we don’t miss such opportunities,’’ he said.
Earlier at the briefing, while commenting on the company’s 2016 financial statement, Orimolade said the Law, Union and Rock Insurance had been able to weather the economic storm through its business resilience initiatives.
He explained that compared to the N1.6billion claim it paid in 2015, the company paid out N1.43billion in 2016.
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According to him, the company is not only determined to meet all her obligations to its policyholders, but is also committed to continue adding value to its esteemed customers through improved performance.
He, however, said that the economic recession affected the company’s Gross Premium Written (GPW) projection, but was able to grow it by two per cent in the 2016 financial year.
Orimolade explained that due to strategic initiatives and prudent underwriting, the company’s profit after tax grew by 100 per cent to N586, 851 million, from N250, 991 million in 2015.
“The underwriting result grew by 10 per cent to N1.254 million, from N1.44 million in 2015.
“The giant stride in Profit after Tax in 2016 galvanised the company positively by reducing accumulated loss by 95 per cent to N24 million, from N486 million in 2015,’’ he added.