L-R: Mr. Lana Loyinmi, Head Contribution & Bond Redemption, National Pension Commission; Mr. George Onekhena, Deputy Commissioner, Finance and Administration, NAICOM; Mrs. Yetunde Ilori, Director General, Nigeria Insurers Association; Alhaji Bala Zakariya’u, past president, Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria and Chairman of occasion, and Mr Adebayo Adeleke, Managing Director, Lancelot Ventures Ltd, during the 3rd Annual National Conference of the National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondents (NAIPCO) on The Role of Stakeholders in Developing Insurance and Pension Sectors held in Lagos on Thursday. August 09, 2018.

An investor has proposed a 10-year recapitalisation roadmap that would enable life insurance companies raise their capital to N20 billion; general operators, N30 billion and composite firms, N50 billion.
The Managing Director Lancelot Ventures Limited, Adebayo Adeleke, who is also a shareholder in many insurance firms, stated this at the 3rd National Conference of the National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondents (NAIPCO) in Lagos.
He added that 3-tier rcapitalisation roadmap should be clearly thought out and spanned over 10 years.

 

Alhaji Bala Zakariya’u, past president, Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria and Chairman of occasion; Mr Moruf Apampa, Managing Director/CEO, SUNU Assurance Plc; Mr Adebayo Adeleke, Managing Director, Lancelot Ventures Ltd; Mr. Supo Sogolola, Executive Director, Law Union & Rock Insurance, and Dr. Farouk Aminu, Head, Research and Strategy Management Department, Pencom, during the 3rd Annual National Conference of the National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondents (NAIPCO) on The Role of Stakeholders in Developing Insurance and Pension Sectors held in Lagos on Thursday. August 09, 2018.

 

According to him, the first phase of recapitalisation should be within a period of 18 months and Life Underwriters should raise their capital from N2 billion to N4 billion; General Business Operators, move from N3 billion to N5 billion.
Continuing, he said in the second phase, which should be three years after the first exercise, Life operators should move their capital to N8billion; Non-life, N10 billion and Composite, N18 billion.

He maintained that in the third phase, which should be five years after the second recapitalisation exercise, Life Underwriters should beef-up their capital to N20 billion, General Business underwriters, N30 billion and Composite firms, N50 billion.
He called on the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to evolve templates and incentives for mergers and acquisitions to enable strong firms absorb weak ones, as against waiting for firms to be bankrupt, and then take over the management.
In a similar vein, Past President, Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), Bala Zakariya’u, charged regulators in the financial services industry to create the enabling environment for mega companies to be established through mergers and acquisitions, adding that “such mega financial institutions are to be tasked with higher capital and solvency, sophisticated information technology infrastructure, best in class human resources and strong brand presence.”

Zakariya’u further said the mega institutions should also have better all-round capacities and connections, as well as cognate strategies to deepen market penetration and enhance finance inclusion.

While fears may be expressed that creating mega institutions may lead to the emergence of ‘companies which may be too big to fail, which, is every regulator’s nightmare,’ he believes ‘this ought to be a preferred nightmare, than what we currently have by default: companies which are too small to succeed.’