Specialized insurance products to hit market soon

Chuks Udo Okonta

The era of tranditional insurance products would soon give way for specialized policies that are being nurtured by underwriters to meet the needs of the insuring public, Inspen can reveal.

The Managing Director Riskguard-Africa Nigeria Limited Yemi Soladoye, in an interview, said some companies have embraced the need to deepen the industry through provision of special needs products tailored towards retail market.

He noted that one underwriting firm is developing 44 specialized products to carter for different classes of people, adding that products which are micro-insurance base, would create jobs for over 22,000 workers.

Soladoye noted that products would ca
pture business opportunities within professional groups, households associations and more.

He said: "I know two operators that are determined to embrace retail insurance in the next three years. A particular company is ready to establish 200 offices between now and 2015. It is ready to generate 22,000 employments in the retail market. The company has asked me to develop 44 products for them for the retail market. The products development will be completed by the end of this month."

He said there are enormous untapped business opportunities within professional and cultural groups which can boost the profitability of operators.

He noted that the business culture of operators has stemmed the growth of the industry, adding that the operators are comfortable with going to brokers to collect cheques.

"The business culture of operators has not helped the situation. The operators like going to a broker to collect cheques, forgeting the fact that under the Market Developement and Restructuring Initiative (MDRI) there is focus on groups and alliances. Take for an example, a group like the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), I am sure it has about 20,000 members, if an insurance company designs a product for all members of NBA, and each of them pays N10,000 in a year, that would amounts to N200 million.

"The cost on this type of business is always low. This and many other types of business initiatives are what the MDRI focuses, which the underwriters are slow and failed to adopt," he said.

He noted that for the industry to thrive, the operators must embrace new trends and strengthen their retail marketing strategy.