Insurer deepens market with N3 billion claim payment

There is a need for insurance operators to embrace prompt payment of claims to retain public trust and ensure the sector contributes optimally to economic growth.

This was the submission of the chairman of the Capital Express Assurance Limited, Otunba Ademola Adenuga, at the 20th yearly general meeting, held virtually in Lagos.

Adenuga said, “Claims paid during the period was N2.972 billion, 82 per cent more than that of the year after.” He noted that the performance of the company during the year under review was good despite the global economic challenges. He said the gross premium rose by 43 per cent to N6.328 billion in 2020 from N4.421bn in 2019.

The chairman said that Capital Express recorded a profit after tax of N67.8 billion in the year under review, from N463.9 million in 2019.

He said that the underwriting profit dropped to N1.149 billion in 2020 from N1.988 billion in 2019, majorly due to the payment of claims and reserve provisions on corporate business.

“We closed 2020 with a total asset of N11.948 billion, an increase of 26 per cent when compared with the preceding year’s figure while total equity improved to N5.368 billion from N4.49 billion up by 19.5 per cent from 2019,” he said.

He noted that despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic in the economy during the year under review, the resilience that the company had built into its operations enabled it to navigate the uncertainty to achieve a high percentage of its set goals and record good results.

The chairman said the board of directors and executive management team explored opportunities emerging from the pandemic, built up the necessary infrastructure to align with the new normal.

“With enhanced IT and repositioning, we ensured that unavoidable losses were controlled to their barest minimum,” he said.

While speaking on its recapitalisation stride, he said that despite the gloomy and harsh operating environment, Capital Express Assurance was able to recapitalize to the tune of N4bn minimum paid-up share capital stipulated for the first phase of the recapitalization directive of the National Insurance Commission which ended by December 31, 2020.

He said that a sum of N1.019bn was injected to shore up the company’s paid-up share capital to N4.074bn and the shareholder’s fund to N5.368bn.

“This will go a long way to protect the business financially, strengthen our balance sheet and position us for long-term growth,” the chairman said.