Insurance Firms Earned ₦630.36bn, Paid ₦238.05bn Claims – NAICOM

The National Insurance Commission on Monday disclosed that insurance companies in Nigeria made ₦630.36bn as claims.

The income of the insurance company was disclosed in the commission’s unaudited result released by the Head, Corporate Communications and Market Development, National Insurance Commission, Rasaaq Salami.

The commission noted that the total gross premium income earned by the insurance companies in 2020 was ₦520bn.

According to NAICOM, the total asset of the underwriting companies in 2021 was ₦2.14tn while net claims paid was ₦238.05bn.

The report released by the Nigerian Insurers Association revealed that the life and non-life underwriters earned ₦316bn, ₦363bn and ₦413bn premiums in 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively.

They also recorded a premium of ₦490bn in 2019.

As of the end of 2020, policies held by individual Nigerians stood at 1,034,383, while corporate and non-individual policies were put at 891,128.

Total policies written stood at 1,925,511, while the insurance penetration in 2020 was 0.72 per cent.

During a recent conference for insurance directors, the Commissioner for Insurance and Chief Executive Officer of NAICOM, Olorundare Thomas, warned the management of insurance companies in Nigeria against refusal to pay claims.

He said while the commission had implemented various measures to reposition the insurance industry and make it contribute significantly to the country’s Gross Domestic Product, the issue of claims settlement was threatening such efforts.