FBN eye composite insurance business

Ojumah

Chuks Udo Okonta

FBN Life Assurance Limited, owned jointly by FBN Holdings of Nigeria and Sanlam of South Africa, hopes to become a composite firm with it's planned acquisition of Oasis Insurance plc, a general business company.

The acquisition, which has reached an advanced stage having concluded due diligence on Oasis, is awaiting the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), it was learnt.

Investigation shows that the company has communicated the composte business plan to the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).

The source at NAICOM, who preferred not to be mentioned, described the development as a healthy one for the country’s insurance industry as the commission had long supported mergers and acquisition in the sector to boost capacity and bring expected synergy to enable the underwriting of big-ticket risks, particularly in the oil and gas sector.

　

"We want to see big and mega insurance companies in Nigeria that would be able to compete with their counterparts outside the shores of Nigeria. Look at the AIGs of this world, the Old Mutuals of South Africa and their contribution to their economies. We want to see that happen in Nigeria," the source said.

Val Ojumah, managing director, FBN Life, who refused to comment on the development, had said earlier in the year that FBN Life was desirous of getting a licence for general business.

"Part of our strategy this year would be to expand our business to be able to offer services in the general line of insurance, and this we would be working very hard to achieve," Ojumah had said during the launch of "Padi4life", one of the company’s products, in Lagos.

When asked about the development, Babatunde Oshadiya, managing director, Oasis Insurance plc, who spoke through a telephone discussion, said: "There is nothing like that, we are still discussing and at the appropriate time you will be the first to know."

As to whether there was any crisis in the company, he simply said: "Absolutely not."

Oasis Insurance plc is a public liability company with authorised and paid-up capital in excess of N3 billion. It is licensed under the Insurance Decree of 1991 to transact general insurance businesses. The company started operation on November 9, 1992 as a private company and was listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in 2007.

Accomplishment of this project would mark another milestone in the history of FBN Life. The company commenced operation just three years ago and, within the first two years of operation, has become profitable and ranking tops among the life insurance companies in the country. It was the first Nigerian insurance company to have deployed insurance policies via mobile network through a partnership deal with Airtel.

FBN Life Assurance, a limited liability company licensed to transact life assurance businesses in Nigeria, officially commenced operations on September 1, 2010. It is jointly owned by FBN Holdings plc (65 percent) and the Sanlam Group, one of the largest financial institutions in South Africa (35 percent).

Drawing from the knowledge and experience of its owners, the company is pioneering various initiatives aimed at bringing the benefits of insurance closer to the people and ensuring the public are aware of how insurance can help to change their lives for the better.