BusinessDay 25 Oct 2017

Wednesday 25 October 2017
26 BUSINESS DAY
C002D5556
InsuranceToday
E-mail: insurancetoday@businessdayonline.com
Cyber security: Insurers
seek financial security to
help enterprises run
…As Leadway supports capacity building
Stories Modestus Anaesoronye
As Cyber Risks becomes
increasingly
a major
threat to enterprise
growth and
development in this part of
the world, insurance operators
are feeling concerned
on how to provide security
that will enable businesses
run without losing money.
They believe that with
digitalisation driving business
process now in Nigeria
like many other parts of the
world, threat of cyber risks
cannot be taken for granted
any longer.
In this vein, one of the
leading insurance companies
in Nigeria, Leadway
Assurance Company
Limited in partnership
with its foreign partners,
Chubb, the world’s largest
publicly traded P&C
insurance company and
the largest commercial
insurer in the U.S recently
held a seminar on cyber
risks, providing local indigenous
players insights
on the emerging risk.
Adetola Adegbayi, executive
director, General
Business, Leadway Assurance
speaking during an
interview at the Seminar
said “We live in a world of
numbers. Things are being
programmed to work
normally without a lot of
human interventions. People
are withdrawing their
monies without having to
walk into the banking hall,
and so within the insurance
industry, we must recognize
that new world and play a
role in it.”
Adegbayi said the role
insurers are going to play is
to provide financial securities
required for enterprises
to continue to run without
losing money.
“Cyber Risk Insurance
is relatively new, and those
of us within the insurance
industry are now beginning
to realize that, and
say yes, we must also play
a role in the new world,
because that risks that
customers face are changing
and becoming more
dynamic and so we cannot
continue to offer the same
clean vanilla, and think
it will cover the emerging
risks.”
She said that Cyber Risk
is no longer new in the
Fast-growing financial
services firm,
FBNInsurance, has
announced the appointment
of Ekpe Ukpabio
as executive director,
Technical. Ukpabio started
his career at STC Insurance
Brokers in 1983 before moving
to Lenoil Holdings in
1990 as Insurance Officer and
Head, Risk Management.
From there, he joined Equity
Indemnity Insurance Co.
Limited where he spent the
next five years rising through
various management positions
including Senior Manager,
Controller and Assistant
General Manager.
In 2000, he was appointed
to serve as MD/CEO of Anchor
Insurance Co. Ltd., by
the Akwa Ibom State Government;
an assignment he
delivered excellently as he
successfully prepared the
company for privatization
and hand-over to a preferred
core investor. After a twoyear
stewardship at Anchor
Insurance, he returned to
Equity Indemnity Ins. Co. Ltd
as Head of Business Development
Group comprising
Equity Indemnity, Equity Life
international market, as
organisations like Chubb
has had more than twenty
years experience providing
risks management on cyber
securities.
“Within the international
insurance market, the issue
of cyber risk is no longer
new to them, having
provided cover in similar
risks since the past 20 years.
They are bringing us expertise,
which we will lean on
to understand the risks.
She said organisations
must begin to insure their
value against cyber crimes.
“It’s not about how dip your
pocket is, but that, if you
have assets and value, you
need to protect it through
insurance”
On the potential of cyber
risks to the industry, Adegbayi
responded. “Before we
begin to look at the potential
to the industry, we have
to first of all look at security
to the client. It is security to
clients that will show us the
potential.”
“Once we are there to
provide the needed services
and also able to understand
the risks that the clients
face, we can now begin to
talk about potential.”
FBNInsurance appoints Ukpabio as ED
The Committee on Insurance
and Pensions
of the NBA Section on
Business Law is lending
its support to the drive
for insurance penetration in
Nigeria.
Insurance Penetration is
measured by the contribution
rate of insurance to the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) of
an economy.
Insurance penetration in
Nigeria is one of the lowest in
the world. Even in Africa for
instance, South Africa has a
12 percent penetration rate
while Nigeria is less than 1
percent.
A number of factors have
been attributed to the low
rate of insurance penetration
in Nigeria.
The Committee is however
convinced that Law and Regulation
play a significant role.
Accordingly, it is organizing
a one day seminar on
the role of Law and Regulation
in Insurance growth and
penetration, which will cover
several topics.
and Managed Healthcare
Services Ltd (MHS). He was
later seconded to MHS as
Acting CEO in addition to
his Business Development
function for the Group before
being elevated to General
Manager in 2005.
He was appointed MD/
CEO of Oceanic Life Assurance
Plc in 2006. He spent
the next six years piloting the
affairs of the Life Insurance
Company.
Speaking on the appointment,
the firm’s MD/CEO, Val
Ojumah said, “Ekpe Ukpabio
is a thoroughbred, fast track
Lawyers lend support for insurance penetration drive
Laws and Regulations
on compulsory insurance
and their enforcement are
crucial to driving insurance
growth and penetration, as it
will promote and encourage
innovation in product development
and distribution.
According to the Committee,
the attitude of insurance
practitioners in leveraging
the legal and regulatory
framework to drive growth is
equally essential.
In view of this, the Committee
is assembling experts
L-R: Gilbert Flepp, head of Construction, Power Gen. & Cyber, CHUBB Africa & Eurasia; Adetola Adegbayi, ;
executive director, General Business, Leadway Assurance; Kamal Kaabi, general manager, CHUBB Tunisia
and Oye Hassan-Odukale, MD/CEO, Leadway Assurance at the Cyber Risks Seminar organized by Leadway
Assurance in partnership with Chubb and Munich Re in Lagos
L-R: Sheila Ezeuko, company Secretary; Kenneth Odogwu, Chairman; Auwalu Muktari, GMD; Uwadi Okpa-Obaji,
director; Daniel Margerle, director and Rufai Mohammed, Director, all of Royal Exchange Plc at the 48th Annual
General Meeting of Royal Exchange Plc held in Kano.
professional with over three
decades’ experience across
Insurance Brokerage, Risk
Management, Business Development
and Operations.
We have no doubt he will be
a great addition to our team
of high-profile professionals.
We are delighted to have him
on board.”
An alumnus of the prestigious
Lagos Business School
and a member of the Society
of Fellows of the Chartered
Insurance Institute UK and
Nigeria, Ukpabio were until
recently the MD/CEO of Equity
Assurance Plc.
in Law, Insurance, Regulation
and Innovation to address
this vital subject on October
26, 2017 at the Metropolitan
Club-15, Kofo Abayomi
Street, Victoria Island, Lagos
Lawyers like many other
professionals are interested
in the opportunities available
to them in the insurance
industry. While several opportunities
exist currently in
the industry for in-house and
external lawyers, growing the
industry will provide more
opportunities.
Experts see digitalisation
Continued from page 24
aggregator platform.
Partnership with Data Aggregators
for Insights - some
data custodians have data
on end-users that can help
develop customized insurance
products which will
ultimately reduce the price.
This is the trend explored by
UBI (Usage Based Insurance)
and other behavioural analytics
models. We can also use
this to drive insurance awareness
campaigns through
targeted ads. This has been
the bedrock of behavioural
economics.
But the journey is still long
for the African insurance
industry. The issue of trust
needs to be addressed and
this can only be achieved
with a customer-focused
strategy otherwise known
as customer centricity. Customer
centricity is not just
about offering great customer
service, it means offering a
great experience from the
awareness stage, through
the purchasing process and
finally through the post-purchase
process. It’s a strategy
that’s based on putting your
customer first, and at the core
of your business as the new
insurer customer segments
are more diverse, more demanding,
more sophisticated
and more hedonistic.
The insurance value chain
is getting disrupted in areas
such as Product Design, Pricing
& Underwriting, Distribution
and Administration
& Claims Management as
explained below:
Adopting technology
in the insurance space has
some challenges of its own for
which all insurers need to be
wary of. It however needs the
active involvement especially
of Executive Management or
even the Board of Directors.
Some of these challenges
are based are coming from
organizations while most
of them are at the levels of
governments and regulatory
authorities. These issues include
but are not limited to
the following: Legacy technology
overhaul cost; cultural
constraints; regulatory
environment; cyber security
and consumer data protection;
internet penetration
and capacity and threats of
non-traditional players.