Custodian wins most innovative insurance company award

GMD Custodian and Allied Plc, Wole Oshin

Chuks Udo Okonta

Custodian and Allied Insurance Limited, (CAIL) has emerged winner of CFI.co award for ‘Most Innovative Insurance Company, Nigeria 2014’. This enviable honour was given by UK-based Capital Finance International’s (CFI) multinational panel of judges comprising renowned experts and scholars drawn from diverse backgrounds after a painstaking assessment of the Insurance and other financial services industry in the country.

According to CFI.co, ‘the award programmes identify individuals and organizations that truly add value. We want to demonstrate through these programmes the many ways in which the economies of the world are converging: best practice can be found everywhere around the globe and we can all learn from each other. We are very interested in including those smaller companies that might otherwise go unnoticed on the international stage but still contribute to global progress’.

Commenting on the emergence of CAIL as the ‘Most Innovative Insurance Company in Nigeria 2014’ CFI averred that ‘Custodian provides good evidence for this important characteristic with the recent launch of a mobile application -Custodian Direct- that guides the customer through the complexities of the complete insurance cycle’. This is in addition to an online insurance platform it introduced earlier. It further stated that ‘Innovation in risk management is evidence too and the insurer has a good response time record in respect of claims payment. There is an attitude at Custodian of seeking out innovation to drive the best possible methods of service delivery. The Judging panel was also impressed with this company’s highly innovative approach and intelligent actions to encourage stability and described Custodian as a most thoughtful corporate citizen’.

In arriving at award decisions, CFI’s Judging Panel reviews information generated during the nomination process and draws on their members’ expertise to identify candidates for award consideration. It then brings into focus the critical eye of a combined 170 years of business leadership and experience in financial journalism to make informed decisions. While it recognizes larger and indeed global players, CFI is no less keen to applaud firms operating in niche areas; drawing its initial nominations from readers, subscribers, contributors and visitors to its website. The CFI.co award committee is keen to reward overall performance without allowing any sort of bias or giving undue weight to reputation.

CAIL is also a recipient of the prestigious PEARL Award for Sectoral Leadership in the Nigerian Stock Exchange and remains unflinching in its commitment to excellence and innovation as instruments to help create genuine relevance and significance for the Nigerian Insurance industry on the global map. Last month, A.M. Best Company reaffirmed the Financial Strength Rating B Stable assigned to Custodian. Its Issuer Credit Rating was bb Stable.

In acknowledging the CFI honour, Mrs. Bunmi Aderemi, the company’s Head of Management Services said ‘Custodian is positioned to take advantage of a growing economy with a young emerging middle class estimated to grow at the rate of six per cent per annum. We hope to be a catalyst for change and growth in the economy through products which would not only encourage business growth and expansion but also instill the confidence of stability in the event of losses’.