Insurance industry reaps N532bn premium in Q3

The insurance industry has generated gross premium income of N532.7 billion in the third quarter Year-on-Year (YoY), representing 15 per cent growth over the figure for 2021.

This is contained in a bulletin on the performance of the insurance market released on Tuesday in Lagos by Mr Rasaaq Salami, spokesperson for the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).

NAICOM said the non-life segment sustained its market dominance at 58.4 per cent of the total premium generated.

The commission reported that oil and gas insurance was the leading driver at 30.8 per cent, while fire insurance followed with 21.3 per cent.

It said motor insurance stood at 14.6 per cent while marine and aviation, general accident and miscellaneous reported a share of 11.8 per cent, 11.2.per cent and 10.3 per cent respectively.

“Life business on the other hand recorded 41.6.per cent of the market production as its share contribution gradually closes up.

“The share of annuity in the life insurance business lagged at 25.5 per cent, while individual life was at 41.2 per cent of the premium generated during the period under review,” the commission said.

According to NAICOM, the industry fostered at a higher rate of 14.9 per cent growth rate, which was an impressive performance, compared to Nigeria’s growth in real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 2.3 per cent during the same period.

The commission stated that the insurance market reported a gross claim of N242.6 billion which was slightly lower compared to the corresponding period of 2021, signifying a decline of -2.3 per cent in the total claims reported by policyholders.

It, however, noted that the ratio of total claims to gross premium stood at about 46 per cent during the current period, while the net claims paid on the other hand stood at about N207.2 billion, signifying 85.4 per cent of all gross claims reported during the period.

NAICOM said life insurance business recorded 95.0 per cent claims settlement against all the reported claims, while non-life segment stood at 72.4 per cent during the same period.

“The array of proportional claims settlement took a direct reflection of the market premium retention as motor insurance retained its lead, posting a claims settlement ratio of about 91 per cent.

“This is followed by miscellaneous insurances reporting about 81 per cent

as paid claims ratio to all reported claims during the period, while general accident recorded 74.4 per cent, marine and aviation stood at 74.3.per cent and fire insurance gulped 59.6 per cent.

“The oil and gas business stood out as the most improved portfolio in this respect at about 65.3 per cent of claims settlement ratio, an increase of 41 points compared to its position of 23.9 per cent recorded in the corresponding period of 2021.

“Similarly, the claims settlement ratio of the life business stood at 95 per cent while the aggregate industry average was recorded at 85.4 per cent during the quarter,” it said.

According to the commission, the experience in oil and gas corner of the market with respect to claims settlement could be attributed to the increasing capital and underwriters’ growing confidence and dexterity in the market.

NAN