Daniel Braie, MD/CEO Linkage Assurance

 

By Ngozi Onyeakusi— Underwriting firm, Linkage Assurance Plc in the 2021 financial year recorded a 34 percent growth in gross premium written(GPW) despite the challenging business environment.

The underwriting firm grew its GPW from N8.33 billion in 2020 to N11.16 billion in the review year as contained in its unaudited financial statements for the period ended 31 December 2021 made available to the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX).

Its gross premium income was N10.57 billion as against N7.95 billion in 2020, a 33 percent increase.

Linkage Assurance during the review period sustained efforts at growing its balance sheet, as total assets grew to N34.85 billion, as against N33.88 billion in 2020.

The year under review was challenging in terms of technical underwriting, pushing net claims ratio up to 71 percent from 31 percent in 2020 largely due to major claims paid during the period such as claims arising from End-SARs protests and catastrophic losses in Oil & Gas and Manufacturing sectors.

Management of Linkage says it will continue to refine its strategy in line with the political, economic, sociological and technological changes in the industry particularly the impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the business landscape.

“We will also continue to develop innovative products, alternative channels of distributions and strategic initiatives that will enable us achieve our corporate goals and objectives. With a medium-to-long term perspective, we believe that we will benefit from growth in these initiatives, Daniel Braie, MD/CEO of Linkage Assurance Plc stated.

Linkage has continued to expand its retail market with tailor made products that meet the needs of her teaming customers. Some of the products include the Linkage Third Party Plus, which is a budget friendly motor insurance that provides not only the compulsory Third party protection but an additional Own damage protection to the tune of N250,000. This product is only available from Linkage Assurance Plc.

Others are the Linkage SME Comprehensive, Citadel Shield (which provides compensation as a result of injuries from accident for pupils and students in recognized academic establishments);  Linkage Events Xclusive Insurance, Linkage Shop Insurance, Purple Motor Plan (comprehensive motor cover exclusively for women), and the Linkage Estate Insurance.

“We have continued to make efforts to enhance our online portal to make our products and services available to our customers especially the digital savvy customers and enterprises, Braie stated.

“In line with the vision statement, we have embarked on extensive digital transformation, this is expected to be one of the major drivers of operational efficiency as it will improve our business process, eliminate wastages, and positively impact our performances.”

On Agric Insurance, the company says in line with its strategic focus, it has developed a bouquet of Agricultural Insurance products as risk management initiatives for both small, medium and large-scale farmers and agribusiness. These include Livestock Insurance Solution, Multiperil Crop Insurance Solution, Fish Farm & Fisheries Insurance, Poultry Farm Insurance, Area Yield Index Insurance and Farm All Risk (Material Damage).