Why Foreign Reinsurers Dominate Nigeria’s Insurance Market

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Why Foreign Reinsurers Dominate Nigeria’s Insurance Market

THE prevalence of foreign reinsurers, mostly European, that are presently taking about 65 per cent share of the Nigerian reinsurance market has been attributed to low underwriting capacity and shareholders’ funds of local reinsurers which are not sufficient to carter for the size of risk exposures.

Africa Re, a continental reinsurer, has indicated that it enjoys about 20 per cent of Nigeria’s reinsurance market share, while other Nigerian local reinsurers write about 15 per cent and the remaining 65 per cent are ceded to foreign reinsurers.

The reinsurance company stated: “In Nigeria, the biggest market in the West African region, Africa Re enjoys about 20 per cent of the reinsurance market share.

Foreign reinsurers

Other Nigerian local reinsurers write about 15 per cent market share, while foreign reinsurers have on the average about 65 per cent market share. The predominance of foreign reinsurers, mostly European, in the Nigerian reinsurance market has to do with the total low underwriting capacity (and shareholders’ funds) compared to the size of total risk exposures.

The continental reinsurer, however, said it was partnering with local operators to moderate the situation.

It stated: “Standing with Nigerian insurers, the Corporation has developed diverse partnerships to support the market development, for example in the mitigation of the forex risk. Unlike the foreign reinsurers, Africa Re accepts payment of reinsurance premiums in Nigerian bank accounts and in the national currency (Naira).”

The Corporation maintained that as efforts to support Nigerian economy, it has also invested over US$ 90 million in various Nigerian companies and indirectly created over 570 jobs, stressing that besides its involvement in the development of the insurance industry through in-house and market insurance trainings, it is also working with the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to enhance public awareness of insurance products in order to boost insurance penetration in the country.

Of the Corporation’s gross turnover which exceeded US$ 642 million in 2016, only 9.5% of this income is from mandatory cessions (in 41 member countries) of 5% on treaty business, the bulk coming from North Africa. This attests to the fact that the Corporation’s income is obtained on a voluntary, competitive and value-for-money basis.

(Allafrica)

USSD payment platform opens up Nigeria’s mobile banking channel

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USSD payment platform opens up Nigeria’s mobile banking channel

Management at Nigerian FinTech-focused firm Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) has confirmed that the total value of transactions processed on its USSD-enabled payment and service delivery platform has exceeded NGN1 trillion.

GTBank’s 737 platform is a USSD-based service delivery channel and its success prompted several other Nigerian banks to rollout their own USSD-powered mobile banking services, according to MD Segun Agbaje.

“Within a year of the introduction of the service, the bank recorded an uptake of over three million customers, with over N1 trillion in transaction on the platform. The platform had gained ubiquitous acceptance and global recognition,” said Agbaje.

Agbaje says part of the reason for the platform’s success has been its accessibility on all types of mobile phones – unlike banking apps that can only be used by a limited number of subscribers who can afford them.

The concept has been a key motivation for FinTech startups eager to partner with telecoms companies and banks, to rollout USSD-based value-added services – but who have been largely unsuccessful due to the reluctance of telecoms and regulators to open up the channels to startups preferring to support banks instead.

Commenting on the success of GTBank’s service, Lanre Adeloye, Co-Founder of health startup SaferMom, said only companies like GTBank could afford the process involved in rolling out USSD services in Nigeria – acquiring the short code itself he said is expensive and beyond the reach of many startups.

“Even when startups are able to raise the funds required, it often takes a longer time, a minimum of six weeks, before they can procure the short code. And after the short code has been paid for, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) can easily shut it down at will. Most VAS providers want to make quick money and they are always looking for companies who will launch a USSD service with high volume. ” Adeloye said.

The success potentials of the USSD platform is one of the channels that the GSMA has enjoined telecoms companies and startups to aggressively pursue in order to enhance partnerships in the ecosystem.

In its report on Building Synergies: How Mobile Operators and Start-ups Can Partner for Impact in Emerging Markets, the GSMA urged operators to offer a wide range of tools that startups can use to achieve growth

All is set for Footballcentric Lagos

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All is set for Footballcentric Lagos

Footballcentric Lagos (A Football Themed Charity Event)

Talk – Play – Network – Games – Music – Comedy – Football Trolls

Biggest Gathering of Football fans and their favorite Sports Analysts on radio and TV in an atmosphere of fun and excitement with loads of prizes to be won by the fans.

Attractions:
– The Last FAN Standing – Quiz Competition
– Life Lessons from Football with Damilola Oluwatoyinbo
– Locker Room (Panel Discussions) with Mozez Praiz, Biola Kazeem, Tega Onojaife, Bode Oguntuyi
– All Star 5-a-side Futsal Challenge – Team Island vs Team Mainland.
– Comedy performances
– And many more exciting and Unprecedented experiences

Proceeds from the event will be used for the “Sports In Schools Project” under the S.A.Y.O Initiative to provide Sports Equipment and Kits for Public Secondary schools in Lagos.

Get Free Tickets To The Football Centric Lagos Event

Tickets to the event are available on FootballCentricLagos
Or  call 08028245847 for more details

Startimes Tasks FG On Broadcast Policies

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Startimes Tasks FG On Broadcast Policies

Pay TV network, Star Times Nigeria has called on the federal government to consider policy implementation that would support speedy growth of the broadcast industry.

This is as it said despite the challenges in the broadcast industry, it has continued to expand its footprint across the African markets owing to its commitment to innovation and superior technology.

The company’s Chief Operating Officer, Tunde Aina, who made the remarks in a recent chat with journalists, blamed the challenges on poor policy implementation.

He noted that the private sector was in a better position to develop the broadcast industry if government could only come up with policies that are acceptable to all players.

According to him, “Businesses that require a relatively longer time to be profitable also require long term funds at relatively low interest rates. The federal government needs to enable businesses to have access to this type of funds either through local financial institutions if they have the capacity or from foreign financial institutions. Broadcasting infrastructure is almost 100 per cent imported into Nigeria, the current economic policies have made it difficult to meet up our foreign monetary obligations and it’s been very challenging to continue to provide our services at the same cost to our customers.”

Addressing the challenges of broadcast business, Aina said it is capital intensive and takes a relatively long time to recoup investments while stable policies and regulation on the part of government can give investors the confidence to continue to invest in the industry.

“Since we deliver our Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) signals via terrestrial, we are also affected by the shortcomings of any terrestrial signals which rely on line of sight between transmitter and receiver. We are continuously working to improve our signals within the big cities by building more transmitter sites in order to improve signals in identified areas, Aina said.

In Abuja for example, we are currently building two sites, one in Kuje and the other in Kubwa. We are continually optimizing our coverage in areas where we already operate and are building new sites to cover areas not previously served, Aina added.

He further said: “We recognise that it is almost impossible to cover every inch of Nigerian territory using terrestrial signals, we have therefore provided the Direct to Home (DTH) platform which relies on satellite and covers the entire sub-Saharan African territory.

He however said despite the challenges faced in the broadcast industry, StartTimes would continue to provide quality and innovative services to its customers.

“We have continued to grow stronger and cover more grounds across Africa starting with two countries and now in over thirty countries and very active in over 15 of them,” he added.

According to him, “Our success story is fuelled by a strong belief and investment in cutting edge technology, life-enriching innovations and quality television entertainment content for our viewing families and households.”

He said the pay Tv has given opportunities to many local channels to start broadcasting localised content at minimal cost, and has also created more than 2,000 direct jobs and more than 20,000 indirect jobbs, enabling new opportunities for actors, actresses and musicians to showcase their talents on many more television platforms and earn more revenue.

The StarTimes boss said as the pioneer digital terrestrial television operator in Nigeria, StarTimes has made pay-tv much more accessible and affordable to the low and middle income class which comprise a greater part of the Nigerian population.

(ThisdayliveNg)

‘Furious 8’ speeds into box office history

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‘Furious 8’ speeds into box office history

Universal’s “The Fate of the Furious” fell just short of $100 million in domestic receipts for its debut weekend but smashed the global opening record, industry data showed on Monday.

The eighth installment of the high-octane action series starring Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriquez and Jason Statham took $98.8 million in North America, according to industry monitor Exhibitor relations.

It was a sharp drop from the $147.2 million debut by “Furious 7” in 2015 but strong performance overseas meant it was able to smash the “Jurassic World” record international opening of $316.7, with a massive $432.3 million from 63 international markets.

That included $190 million in China — the biggest ever debut for any film in the world’s second largest economy — bringing its total global opening to $532 million and breaking the previous record of $529 million held by “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” (2015).

“It’s a sign that a franchise built around muscle cars and odes to the importance of family is growing more global in scope,” wrote Brett Lang, senior film and media editor for trade magazine Variety in an online commentary.

“If it wants to continue to expand its audience as it inevitably ticks through future sequels, it will need to keep building a fan base in places like China.”

“The Fast and Furious” franchise, which added Charlize Theron for the latest installment, has now amassed $4.4 billion worldwide over its eight movies.

Elsewhere in the domestic top five, “The Boss Baby” beat Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” to the runner-up spot with $16 million, bringing its three-week total to $116.8 million. Alec Baldwin voices the chief baby in the DreamWorks production, distributed by Fox.

“Beauty” earned another $13.7 million to bring its five-week domestic take to $454.7 million but, as with “The Fate of the Furious,” the Disney fairytale starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens is doing its biggest business abroad.

A $22 million take from foreign markets brought its global total of just over $1 billion, making it the 22nd largest worldwide release of all time.

Fourth place went to Sony’s “Smurfs: The Lost Village” which added just $6.7 million to its disappointing $13.2 million opening weekend, described by the Hollywood Reporter as “one of the worst starts in recent memory for an animated offering from a major Hollywood studio.”

“Going in Style,” a Warner Bros. comedy starring Morgan Freeman, Alan Arkin and Michael Caine as an octogenarian bank robbers, placed fifth in its second weekend, taking in $6.3 million for a domestic total of $23.3 million, which almost covers its production budget.

Rounding out the top 10 are:

“Gifted” ($3.1 million)

“Get Out” ($3 million)

“Power Rangers” ($2.8 million)

“The Case for Christ” ($2.8 million)

“Kong: Skull Island” ($2.7 million)

 

 

(GuardianNg)

CBN introduces ‘Form X’ for SMEs, naira closes at 410/$

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CBN introduces ‘Form X’ for SMEs, naira closes at 410/$

The Central Bank of Nigeria has introduced “Form X” for the Small and Medium-scale Enterprises seeking to purchase foreign exchange from the apex bank.

The CBN said the decision was part of its commitment to increase forex liquidity and improve access by the SMEs and retail businesses to forex.

The Acting Director, Corporate Communications, CBN, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, who confirmed this on Monday, said that the measure was intended to ease documentation challenges usually encountered by this category of businesses.

He further explained that the new form, which must be completed by all the SME applicants required the applicant to fill the form with a supporting application letter as well as beneficiary invoice and bank wire transfer.

The objective of the new guideline, he added, was to remove obstacles usually encountered by those whose forex needs for either visibles or invisibles were as small as or less than $10,000.

He reiterated the apex bank’s determination to continue to ensure adequate supply of forex for genuine transactions in the coming days.

The introduction of the ‘’Form X” was coming barely one week after the CBN opened a special forex window for the SMEs.

Meanwhile, the naira closed at 410/dollar on the parallel market on Monday, the last day of the Easter holidays.

Despite the series of dollar supplies into the various segments of the forex market by the central bank, the naira had closed at 410 against the United States dollar from Friday to Sunday, fuelling concerns about the CBN dollar interventions.

Earlier, the local unit had also closed at 410/dollar consecutively from last Tuesday to last Thursday.

Deposit Money Banks lacked naira liquidity to bid for the $100m offered for sale by the CBN last Thursday.

Banks were unable to buy over $39m out of the $100m offered for bid by the apex bank.

The CBN is reportedly planning to raise dollar sales to the BDCs to $40,000 from the present $20,000, which will improve liquidity and help support the local currency.

 

 

 

 

(Punchng)

Zenith Bank league: Dolphins, First Bank unbeaten

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Zenith Bank league: Dolphins, First Bank unbeaten

The Nigeria Basketball Federation has fixed the second phase of the 2016/17 Zenith Bank Women’s Basketball League for May 1 to 8 at the Sports Hall, Ramat Square, Kaduna.

According to a statement from the NBBF, signed by its secretary general, Balewa Austin, and made available to our correspondent, all the 18 clubs in the women’s topflight league have been directed to arrive in Kaduna on April 29, while the technical meeting is scheduled for the following day.

The Kaduna phase of the league is expected to be more explosive, when the top clubs play each other.

In the first phase, which began in Abuja on April 10, 2015 champions Dolphins sit comfortably atop Group B – which includes FCT Angels, Zamfara Babes, Delta Force, Coal City Queens and Sunshine Angels – after they won all their games played at the National Stadium, Abuja.

The Lagos-based club defeated FCT Angels 97 – 60 in their opening game of the season, before further victories over Delta Force (66-65), Sunshine Angels (63-46) and Coal City Babes (50-18). They then walloped Zamfara Babes 71-27 in their final game on Monday to end the first phase with a 100 per cent record.

In other final games, champions First Bank were also unbeaten after they defeated Taraba Hurricanes 60-15, while Customs beat Oluyole Babes 70-21.

Group A comprises First Bank, Taraba Hurricanes, Plateau Rocks, Nassarawa Amazons, AHIP Queens and 1st Deepwater while Group C has Customs, Gt 2000, Oluyole Babes, Ekiti Angels, Benue Princess and IGP Queens.

Meanwhile, top basketball stakeholders have frowned at the five-phase structure of the league, describing it as “cash consuming.”

The third phase is billed for Asaba while Ibadan and Lagos host the fourth and fifth phases respectively.

“After the first two phases in Abuja and Kaduna, they may announce that teams can’t afford to play the remaining three phases and thus revert to the old three-phase system we are used to. I just hope this is not a setup,” a top basketball personality, who pleaded anonymity, said.

Banks abandon CBN dollar sales due to naira shortages

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Banks abandon CBN dollar sales due to naira shortages

Deposit Money Banks lacked naira liquidity to bid for the $100m offered for sale by the Central Bank of Nigeria on Thursday.

Findings showed that banks were unable to buy over $39m out of the $100m offered for bid by the apex bank.

The Nigerian interbank lending rates rose sharply by around 100 percentage points on Thursday, as commercial lenders scrambled for cash to pay for bond purchases and cover their positions.

Overnight lending rates rose to around 300 per cent from 200 per cent at the end of trading on Wednesday, as naira liquidity dried up in the banking system and some banks were forced to borrow from the CBN, Reuters reported.

The Federal Government raised N105.32bn from bond sales last week, and payment for the debt sale was due on Thursday, draining liquidity in the market and pushing further up the cost of money in the market.

The CBN has consistently sold dollars at both the spot and forward markets, and required banks to pay for the purchase. This has drained liquidity in the market. The nation’s financial markets were closed on Thursday for the Easter celebrations and will reopen on Tuesday.

The CBN had last week opened a special forex window for the Small and Medium-scale Enterprises to enable entrepreneurs to import eligible finished and semi-finished items not exceeding $20,000 for an enterprise per quarter.

The regulator also opened a special forex window for the remittances of dividends denominated in foreign currencies abroad.

The move came after the regulator made a special intervention in the Bureau de Change segment of the foreign exchange market which resulted in each operator accessing $20,000 as against the earlier stipulated $10,000 per week.

Despite the series of dollar supplies into the various segments of the forex market, the naira closed at 410 against the United States dollar on Thursday, fuelling concerns about the CBN dollar interventions.

The local unit closed at 410/dollar consecutively from Tuesday to Thursday.

Justifying part of the recent spate of interventions, the Acting Director, Corporate Communications, CBN, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, said, “The special interventions were necessitated by its findings that a large number of the SMEs were being crowded out of the forex space by large firms and also service genuine demand for invinsibles like tuition fees, medical and personal/basic travel allowance.”

However, analysts have said the naira is likely to strengthen this week on increase in dollar sales to foreign exchange bureaus.

The CBN is reportedly planning to raise dollar sales to BDCs to $40,000 from the present $20,000, which will improve liquidity and help support the local currency.

The local currency was quoted at 410 to the dollar on the black market on Friday, compared with 398 to the dollar last Friday.

At the official window, it closed at 306.10 to the dollar on Thursday against 306.20 per dollar last week.

 

 

 

(FinancialNGR)

MoneyTrust Microfinance Bank Commences Operations

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MoneyTrust Microfinance Bank Commences Operations

MoneyTrust Microfinance Bank Limited (MFB), a newly licensed multi-purpose MFB approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that is located in Lagos, has commenced operation.

The bank was licensed as a unit MFB to accept deposits from members of the public (except public sector institutions) and to play a key role in ensuring that the CBN’s financial inclusion policy is supported.

Speaking during the branch opening ceremony in Lagos on Tuesday, the Chief Executive Officer of MoneyTrust MFB, Chike Memeh, said the bank would add value to its customers by being a dependable partner they can rely on.

Memeh listed the product offerings of the financial institution to include mom-prenuer (MP), which is targeted at women empowerment; youth-preneur, which is targeted at innovation and enterprise; pool funds management; cooperative partnership plan; as well as micro health scheme.

He said MoneyTrust has tailor-made account types suited for various cadres in the public, adding that the bank’s operations would be largely driven by innovation.

“We believe banking should be more of reforms, innovation and enterprise. We are not one of those cut out for traditional banking that waits for customers to come to the bank. We are restless in those types of situations. We like doing things differently. Even when things are good, we would like to spoil it and do it in a different way.

“We think that Nigeria has developed very fast over the years. The banking industry has evolved, that is why a number of Nigerian banks are among the top 1,000 banks in the world. So, that is positive. But we are still a long way to go, especially when you look at merchant banking and micro-banking.

“On the lower end, there is a lack of depth of microfinance in the country. Microfinance is majorly for the poor and unbanked. They hardly have banks. So, what we find in such areas are the informal transactions like the esusu going on in the markets. There is hardly any bank that supports that sector for growth. That is what MoneyTrust was set up for,” he added.

ICAN partners MRS, others for growth

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ICAN partners MRS, others for growth

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria says it will continue to enhance capacity building and professionalism by fostering relationship with relevant partners and stakeholders.

The President, ICAN, Mr. Titus Soetan, said this during a visit to the Lagos Mainland and District Society of the institute in Lagos on Friday.

Soetan, who also made a courtesy visit to Grace Polytechnic and MRS Oil Nigeria Plc, said the institute would continue to expand its reach across the country.

During his visit to Grace Polytechnic, the ICAN president said the institute was partnering the tertiary institution for the training of accountants.

He said, “ICAN was established in 1965 to determine the standard of knowledge that will be required for those that want to be chartered accountants in Nigeria. Therefore, Grace Polytechnic needs to be accredited by ICAN to enable her Higher National Diploma graduates to qualify for subject exemption.

In his reaction, the Rector, Grace Polytechnic Dr. Adeosun Olayiwola, expressed the belief that the visit by ICAN team would foster a win-win relationship between the institute and the institution.

The Managing Director, MRS Oil Nigeria Plc, Mr. Andrew Gbodume, recalled that the organisation had maintained a good relationship with ICAN since the years of Texaco Oil.

He said, “We have recruited qualified accountants into the company and currently we have a total of 16 chartered accountants and some of them are fellows of the institute.”

 

 

(PunchNg)

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