Experts urge insurance, pension operators to leverage innovation

Industry experts have advised insurance and pension operators to leverage innovation to boost productivity and economic prosperity.The advice was given at the 2023 edition of the eighth yearly national conference of the Nigerian Association of Insurance and Pension Editors (NAIPE) themed ‘Role of Insurance and Pension in Building Sustainable Economic Growth under the New Government’, held in Lagos.

The experts also stressed the need for operators to embrace continued manpower development and technology adoption to drive growth. At the panel, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Scib Insurance Brokers, Shola Tinubu, reiterated the need for the government to adopt creative policies and regulations that are business-friendly and growth-driven for the insurance and pension industries. Tinubu called on regulators to give operators a free hand to choose their method of raising capital.

“On the insurance side, capital has been driven by statutory requirements. We are talking about the regulator mandating the players to get a certain quantum of capital without creating ground for capital raising, meaning that companies have to strive for capital just to stay in business. What has happened in the various rounds that we had was that there was no creative idea for channeling the capital,” he said.

According to him, if any company decides on its own to go to the capital market to raise capital, such a company will channel the capital effectively for the growth of the business.

Speaking also, the Managing Director, ARM Pension, Wale Odutola, said every household needs basic insurance and a pension plan. Odutola, who was represented by his executive director in charge of investment, Abimbola Suleiman, noted that insurance and pension have gone a long way in improving the lives of people.

“When insurance handles the risks for businesses and the contributory pension scheme (CPS) takes care of pension liabilities from the balance sheet of companies, it will go a long way to ensure productivity and growth in the finance sector.

“There are currently nine million people in the CPS net and this is abysmally low when compared to the population. Hence, there is a need to get all state governments involved and the participation of the informal sector in CPS,” he said.

The former Secretary General of the African Insurance Organisation (AIO), Prisca Soares, said the lack of skilled manpower, especially in the area of the dearth of actuaries is a challenge to the insurance industry.