Insurers Are Partnering Federal Govt On Enforcement of Compulsory Insurances – Musa [interview]

Mr. Ganiyu Musa is the Chairman, Nigerian Insurers Association(NIA) and the group managing director, Cornerstone Insurance Plc. In this interview with ZAKA KHALIQ, he spoke on the efforts of the association to enhance enforcement of compulsory insurances in the country , among other sundry issues. Excerpts.

What is your response to the controversy trailing the recent collapse of 21-storey building in Ikoyi, Lagos recently?

We have sent out notice to our member insurance companies to indicate if they are involved in the insurance of the building and up till now, no insurer has notified the association of its involvement in provision of insurance to the building.

On what the the association is doing to ensure such buildings which are presently being constructed in country are adequately covered by insurance, NIA in collaboration with the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) are engaging federal and state governments to ensure the full implementation of the compulsory insurance law.

According to the country's statutory laws, Section 65 of the Insurance Act 2003 stipulates that all public buildings shall be adequately insured, while Section 64 of the Act provides that all buildings under construction above two floors shall be adequately insured with a registered insurance company.

The law explains further that every public building should be insured against the hazards of collapse, fire, earthquake, storm and flood.

Public building include; a tenement house, hostel, a building occupied by a tenant, lodger or licensee and any building to which members of the public have ingress and aggress for the purpose of obtaining educational or medical service, or for the purpose of recreation or transaction of business.

How much impact did the #EndSARS protest has on insurance sector in the country?

The first-year anniversary of the protest was a fortnight ago and as an industry that was seriously impacted by the protest, It was an opportunity for us to take stock and flaunt our scorecard in the area of claims payment.

What started as a protest against the State Anti-Robbery Police unit later snowballed into a crisis of unprecedented dimension with resultant loss of lives and properties.

Following huge losses suffered by businesses in the aftermath of the #EndSARS violence, the insurance industry, in line with its role of providing financial intermediation and restoring businesses quickly, moved in to provide the necessary cushion for those that have insurance cover and others who suffered losses to their businesses.

The report shows that insurance companies settled 718 claims on vandalisation; 93 cases on looting; 113 on theft; and 136 on loss of cash, three death claims were paid while claims were paid on other property losses, 99 claims were settled on malicious damage; eight claims on business interruption; 455 claims on burglary attack and 912 claims on fire and burnt site.

We will keep updating our records as they come and when the process is brought to conclusion, we will inform Nigerians about it.

Let me assure you that the insurance industry, in line with its role of providing financial intermediation and restoring businesses, will continue to provide the necessary cushion for those that have insurance cover and others who suffered losses to their businesses.

The insurance industry recently made President Muhammadu Buhari its grand patron. How would this impact insurance business?

Conferring the title of Grand Patron on President Muhammadu Buhari is a good and welcome development which the industry will continue to cherish for a long time to come.

Having the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is no mean feat and it attests to the highest level of recognition and approval or endorsement as the case may be.

I believe same will have a positive impact on insurance business as it will: encourage more government patronage and recognition; strengthen regulatory and capital requirements to ensure solvency and sustainability; introduce reforms that will help deepen insurance penetration as well as its very crucial to building consumer trust and public awareness, even as it will challenge the operators to act more ethically among others.

What is your message to NIA members as regards product development?

What has become clear is that product development can no longer occur in silos, with one function creating products for another function to sell. Insurers are determined to make every moving part of their business serve the customer, and what this means in concrete terms is that every division of the business has a contribution to make towards the creation of customer-centric products.

Insurers are only just beginning to tap the opportunities for technology-driven product creation. However, the biggest problem these days is the underlying products are not yet 'digital ready', although everybody is talking about

Digitisation and Disruption and are modernising their core systems with huge investments in order to support these new trends, - even new ones.

The biggest risk the insurance industry faces when it comes to innovation is not taking enough risk. True innovation requires experimentation, which most of the time results in failure. Insurance organisations are built to eliminate failure from their culture. Without failure, you can have no innovation. CEOs demand a positive Return on Investment (ROI), they now need to seek out and understand what it means to have a positive Return on Risk (ROR).

You don't really have to invent new products in my eyes, you just have to make the existing ones easier and more 'digital native'. Today's products have been and are still created for non-digitals. And this situation not only makes new customer-facing digital processes complicated, it also makes core replacements and automation more complicated and expensive than necessary.

Most of the innovation in product development will happen where smart connected devices drive new business models based on behavioural data.

I particularly expect improvements in pricing. UBI is a bigger game changer than covering events that are not insured today. In any case, there will be a huge need to understand, measure and manage rational and irrational behaviour.

The cost of customer acquisition is a critical metric for marketing efforts. Lifetime customer value also helps us know how much we should be spending to acquire as well as how we should expand our share of wallet within the products we offer.

What steps are you taking to ensure Insurers sustain the current momentum brought by the just concluded AIO conference?

Several initiatives introduced by the industry and the Regulator (NAICOM) are ongoing and same will be further strengthened to sustain the current momentum brought by the conference. These initiatives include: Developments Policy implications; a stronger and more cohesive policy and regulatory response; Capital adequacy and solvency for successful operation of insurance businesses; Supervisory cooperation; Cross-sectoral issues; Reporting - timeliness and relevance; Risk-based supervision and effective tools; Reinsurance supervision and Mechanism for ensuring that standards and guidelines are fully implemented.