Oklahoma Licenses 37 Captive Insurers During 2014

Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John D. Doak.

OKLAHOMA CITY, Jan. 30, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- New captive insurance regulation is providing a boost toOklahoma's economy. During the past two years, Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John D. Doak and his administration have taken steps to foster a business friendly environment for the captive industry and streamline Oklahoma's procedures for licensure. 

Oklahoma now has 47 licensed captives, with 37 new licenses issued last year. Oklahoma has licensed pure, association, sponsored, and special purpose captives, and is also able to license branch and industrial captives under the state's modernized captive laws.

"Oklahoma is now an extremely competitive domicile with a straightforward and efficient captive formation process," Doak said. "My staff and I are committed to making Oklahoma the domicile of choice through modernized laws and regulations, business-friendly requirements and forms, and fast, responsive service to our industry."

Captive insurance companies are used for a wide variety of reasons, but mainly to insure risks of a single company or industry group. Incentives for captives in Oklahoma include very low tax rates and fees, potential tax advantages over other risk transfer methods, and a supportive regulatory environment.

"It is great to see that our efforts have made Oklahoma one of the nation's top destinations for captive insurance companies to do business. This was our exact intention and it is very rewarding to see companies across the country recognize that Oklahoma is a great place to do business. I look forward to seeing continued growth in this market and I'm committed to working to make that happen," said Rep. Glen Mulready, House author of the recent legislative changes.

James Mills, the director of the Captive Insurance Division, is encouraged that the Oklahoma Captive Insurance Association has been formed by the industry in response to Oklahoma's modernized regulatory approach.

"It is very promising to see the industry respond so favorably to the work we are doing," said Mills. "I look forward to working with them to continue Oklahoma's success as a captive domicile."

To learn more about the Oklahoma Insurance Department's Captive Insurance Division, visitcaptive.oid.ok.gov.

About the Oklahoma Insurance Department The Oklahoma Insurance Department, an agency of the State of Oklahoma, is responsible for the education and protection of the insurance-buying public and for oversight of the insurance industry in the state.

For more information contact: Kesha Keith  
405-522-4066 
Kesha.Keith@oid.ok.gov 

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130910/LA77386

SOURCE Oklahoma Insurance Department

RELATED LINKS
http://www.oid.ok.gov/

AirAsia, Jasindo pay insurance claims

Jakarta Post

AirAsia Indonesia has officially handed over a Rp 1.25 billion (US$97,987) insurance claim to a victim of flight QZ8501 while 24 other families have received Rp 300 million each as accident insurance.

Executive head of non-bank financial industry monitoring at the Financial Services Authority (OJK), Firdaus Djaelani, said there were 131 others who had not yet received compensation for various reasons.

Firdaus said the claim value was Rp 1.25 billion per passenger according to Ministerial Regulation No. 77/2011 on flights. 

“I have read the regulation myself,” he said in Surabaya on Friday. 

Meanwhile, PT Asuransi Jasa Indonesia (Jasindo) president director Budi Tjahjono said that for non-Indonesian passengers, the insurance claim was $175,000 per person as stipulated in the Montreal Convention.

Jasindo, according to Budi, is currently calculating the insurance value of the aircraft itself, which is estimated to be $46 million.

AirAsia Indonesia’s legal and compliance head Yudha Dewangga Kusuma said his office had prepared special assistants to help victims’ families with insurance claims.

Bloomberg reported on Friday that two people who were knowledgeable about ongoing investigations said the pilots had cut power to a critical computer system that normally prevents planes from going out of control shortly before it plunged into the Java Sea.

That decision appears to have helped trigger the events of Dec. 28, when the plane climbed so abruptly that it lost lift and it began falling with warnings blaring in the cockpit, the informants said.

The pilots had been attempting to deal with alerts about the flight augmentation computers, which control the plane’s rudder and also automatically prevent it from going too slow.

As the search for bodies continues, two more suspected passengers were found in Majene waters, West Sulawesi, on Friday, raising the number of bodies recovered in that area to six.

Four bodies had been sent to Surabaya, East Java, for identification. The other two were still on their way to Bhayangkara Hospital in Makassar, South Sulawesi, as of Friday, to be put in caskets and flown to Surabaya on Saturday. 

The two bodies, which were no longer intact, were found on Friday in two different locations. One was found by a local around midnight on a beach in Palipi Soreang subdistrict, Banggae district, Majene.

- See more at: http://m.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/31/airasia-jasindo-pay-insurance-claims.html#sthash.un3SyHJv.dpuf

Africa looks to extend new disaster insurance to Ebola-like epidemics

1 of 1Full Size

By Daniel Flynn

DAKAR (Reuters) - African countries want to extend a new catastrophe insurance fund, which made its first payout of $25 million this month, to include protection against epidemics in the wake of the devastating Ebola outbreak.

The African Risk Capacity (ARC) agency, a specialised body of the African Union, launched a scheme last year to insure against natural disasters. It is an effort to break Africa's reliance on foreign aid and address the impact of climate change by using innovative financial techniques.

The ARC paid $25 million in its first year of operations to Senegal, Mauritania and Niger to mitigate the effects of a severe drought in the arid Sahel region south of the Sahara -- well above the $8 million in premiums paid by those countries.

The other African nation to take out a policy, Kenya, paid $9 million but received no insurance payment.

Richard Wilcox, the ARC's director general, said that its success so far had encouraged 12 countries to sign up for policies for the second year.

African states, he said, have also approached ARC to develop insurance against epidemics after the Ebola outbreak in West Africa killed more than 8,800 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone -- severely damaging their economies.

“The scale of the Ebola crisis in those three countries was a wake-up call to everybody,” Wilcox said, and his agency was working with virologists and other experts to design a system of coverage.

"Technically, this is much harder than the weather risk because with weather we have 30 years of reliable data. Disease outbreaks are much rarer.”

The World Bank estimates the three countries hardest-hit by Ebola will lose $1.6 billion in economic output this year. Mining companies have suspended expansion plans, agricultural production has slumped and tourists have avoided the region.

ARC was capitalised using $200 million from the British and German development institutions. That money will be paid back without interest in 20 years time, allowing the ARC to offer below-market premiums to African states.

By pooling disaster risks across east and west Africa, which have uncorrelated rainfall patterns, the ARC is also able to undercut commercial insurers. On top of drought coverage, the fund will offer cyclone and flood insurance next year.

By making use of reinsurance, ARC was only liable for the first $15 million in payments this year -- meaning that it received $2 million more in premiums than it paid out. On an average year, it would expect to do even better, Wilcox said.

FG Urged to step-up commitment to AML/CFT

Chuks Udo Okonta

The immediate past Director General of Inter–Governmental Action against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), Dr. Abdullahi Shehu has lamented the current low level of commitment by the Federal Government to the issues of Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) in the country.  

He made this remark in Abuja on Thursday, 29^th January, 2015 at the public presentation of a book entitled ‘Anti-Money Laundering & Combating the Financing of Terrorism in Nigeria’ written by Sam Chukwuka Onyeka and published by Transparent Protection Ltd./Gte, a financial sector civil society organization.

The GIABA boss while commending the author for his incisive and brilliant work hoped that AML/CFT stakeholders in Nigeria will be able to take advantage of the book for capacity building especially as Nigeria prepares for the second round of GIABA conducted mutual evaluation.

Dr. Shehu regretted that the country was not ready for the mutual evaluation. He was emphatic that Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing National Risk Assessment which is a critical element of the mutual evaluation required to be conducted under the Financial Action Task Force Recommendation 1 has not been carried out. He therefore held that concerted efforts involving the Federal Government, law enforcement agencies and other relevant stakeholders should be made towards addressing the remaining observed deficiencies in the AML/CFT regime, otherwise, it would be advisable for Nigeria to request that the mutual evaluation to be shifted to a later date.

While reviewing the book, the Director General of Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), Professor Adedeji Adekunle, commended the author’s special capacity for rigorous research and depth of knowledge of the subject matter. Also the Director General of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Mrs. Bode George praised the author for the book and encouraged him to carry out a research on how to improve collaboration among relevant law enforcement agencies in the country as a means of improving efficiency in investigation and prosecution of the crimes of money laundering and terrorist financing in Nigeria.

The author, a former lecturer and currently staff of National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist and member of the Presidential Committee on Financial Action Task Force (FATF).  

The book presentation attracted stakeholders from all walks of life. Among the dignitaries in attendance were NDLEA Director General, Mrs. Bode George and the Chief Presenter, Prince Chika Ezerioha. Others include representatives of the Inspector General of Police, Chief of Naval Staff, Chief of Army Accounts, Comptroller General of Customs and Excise Department, FCTA, National Orientation Agency, Construction Companies, Federal Road Safety Corps, Presidents of ICAN, ANAN, CITN, and some financial sector regulators including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), CEO of banks and Insurance companies, Insurance broking firms, FBO’s, MDA’s and the media.

Five reasons to be upbeat about Africa’s insurance industry

For many decades Africa was known for its oil, gas and mineral potential. This is still true in the 21st century but it’s not the only African reality. The steadily rising middle class has helped boost internal consumption.

Because insurance is a relatively unknown industry in many African countries, this article aims to highlight five realities supporting the idea of a booming African insurance market.

1. A low insurance penetration rate means high growth potential

Insurance experts and practitioners from around the world see a low insurance penetration rate (insurance market size/GDP) as a sign of high growth potential in the industry. According to Swiss Re, Africa’s insurance penetration rate stood at 3.5% in 2013 versus 6.28% globally, while the market recorded a growth rate of 10.2% versus 2.5% worldwide.

2. Growing investment from international and regional insurers

Africa’s most attractive insurance markets have seen the entry of foreign players that generally create their subsidiaries from scratch, or simply acquire an existing local player. Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria have been preferred targets for foreign insurers. An example is British insurer Prudential that acquired Kenya’s Shield Assurance in 2014 as well as local Ghanaian firm Express Life in late 2013.

African-based companies have also made investments in other countries on the continent. Last year Morocco’s Saham Group bought a 40% stake in Nigeria’s Unitrust Insurance, while in the same year South Africa’s Sanlam secured a shareholding in Oasis Insurance, also based in Nigeria.

3. Multinational investors require insurance products

Multinational firms investing in Africa are cautious about risks threatening their activity in an environment characterised by weak infrastructure and political instability. This is boosting commercial insurance in countries like South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Morocco and Angola. The entry of multinationals has driven local insurance firms into developing tailored and sophisticated products like political risk coverage and agricultural insurance schemes.

4. Growing awareness of the importance of insuring against natural disasters

Africans are increasingly aware of the importance of insuring their assets against natural hazards. The impact of natural hazards is disastrous for African economies with weak infrastructure, which is why governments and international organisations (such as the World Bank) are launching transnational reinsurance pools and insurance programmes in order to help insurers cover these kinds of risks.

5. Regulatory changes could benefit insurers

In several African countries many insurance policies are not mandatory and/or enforced by the law as is the case in Europe and the US. Insurance companies see opportunity for growth once some products are made mandatory following lobbying manoeuvres executed by insurers’ associations.

As an example, only 15% of Nigerian vehicles (2.5 million) are insured. This is due to the presence of fake agents selling false policies in a country well known for a lack of enforcing its laws. The Nigerian Insurance Association is now trying to change the situation.

Elmehdi Amid is a senior analyst at Infomineo.

Infomineo is a business research company, focusing on Africa and the Middle East. The company provides its clients, including the majority of the leading global management consulting firms and several Fortune Global 500 companies, with ad hoc data on countries, markets, companies and people gathered through primary and secondary research. For more information please contact info@infomineo.com or visitwww.infomineo.com.

State says pension fund growth in 2014 exceeded benchmark

 (AP) — State officials say growth in Rhode Island's state pension fund exceeded its benchmark in 2014, but it lagged industry standards.

The Providence Journal reports (http://bit.ly/ICCSmb ) the pension fund grew by 4.5 percent for the year ending Dec. 31. General Treasurer Seth Magaziner said it exceeded the pension system's 4.4 percent benchmark.

In contrast, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 2014 up 7.5 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 index, a broader measure, was up 11.4 percent.

The value of the portfolio has decreased by $105.8 million, to $7.96 billion since the fiscal year began July 1.

BT announces plan to cut £7bn pension deficit

BT has set out a new plan to cut its £7bn pension deficit, pouring £2bn into the fund over the next three years.

The telecoms company said the deficit in the £47bn scheme – Britain’s largest in the private sector – had grown from £4.1bn in 2011.

The increase in the triennial valuation reflects record low interest rates and low bond yields, which have depressed returns. The deficit is still below the £9bn hole recorded in 2008.

As it works on its planned £12.5bn deal to buy Britain’s biggest mobile group EE, BT also outlined plans to upgrade its fibre broadband network over the next decade. The improvement could achieve ultrafast speeds of up to 500Mbps across most of the UK. Hoping to catch up with Japan and south Korea in broadband speeds, BT plans to pilot a new technology called G.fast this summer before rolling it out.

The company agreed a new 16-year plan with the pension fund trustee to wipe out the shortfall by 2030 rather than 2025 as previously planned.

BT’s finance director, Tony Chanmugam, hailed the agreement with the trustee as a good outcome for the scheme’s 300,000 members and BT.

Pensions specialist John Ralfe described the pension agreement as “very weak”. He said: “There are no new deficit contributions within the time period agreed in 2011. Rather, new deficit contributions are tacked on from 2025 which is against the regulator’s guidelines.”

For the seven years, from 2018 to 2024, BT will make annual payments of £325m, in line with the 2011 agreement, followed by five annual payments of £495m through to 2029 and a final contribution of £289m in 2030. Chief executive Gavin Patterson said the plans would not hold back the group in the bidding for the next round of Premier League broadcast rights in early February. The auction will pit BT against rival Sky.

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Patterson said the company was making good progress on buying EE. BT is scrutinising EE’s books, after entering exclusive talks to buy the mobile operator from Deutsche Telekom and Orange in mid-December.Most other fixed-line operators in Europe already have a mobile arm and the acquisition will make BT the biggest fixed and mobile group in the UK.

BT made adjusted profits before tax of £814m in the three months to December, up 13% on a year earlier. It was its best quarter ever for fibre broadband orders, and for growth in landlines. Its superfast fibre broadband network now covers three-quarters of the UK.

Darren Redmayne, CEO of Lincoln Pensions, said: “What is less rejoicing is BT’s pension deficit, which has not gone away but is indeed worsening despite the improving economy. This is a case in point of the negative effect of quantitative easing and low interest rates on pension funds.”

Home insurance cost less in 2014

BBC

Despite severe flooding in some parts of the UK last winter, the ABI said premiums had been driven down by competition.

Its figures show that for buildings insurance, premiums paid fell by 6% to an average £230 a year.

For contents insurance the average premium paid fell by 5% to £124 a year.

An ABI spokesman, Malcolm Tarling, stressed that as the figures were averages, some people would have paid much more, and others much less.

"Some people's premiums will have gone up, especially if they are in an area of flood risk," he said.

"But premiums will also vary from company to company depending on whether they have experienced more or fewer claims then they were expecting."

There was severe flooding in parts of Somerset and close to the River Thames west of London.

As a result the insurance industry expects that it will eventually have to pay out £451m in flood-related claims on its policies.

Millions of Small Farmers to Benefit From New Type of Insurance - Study

Reuters

Rome — Governments from Mongolia to Nigeria are creating new forms of insurance to protect the developing world's small farmers, who are suffering especially badly from extreme weather events made worse by global warming, a new study said.

Obstacles like poor infrastructure and lack of financing have been partly overcome in several countries, and insurance is now available to millions of small farmers, said the study released on Wednesday by Columbia University and the research group Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS).

More farmers are able to obtain coverage than before due to a switch to index insurance from traditional indemnity insurance, where the size of payouts is based on specific losses faced by a client.

The new index model allows farmers to buy insurance so they receive a payout if the amount of rainfall in a given period increases or decreases beyond acceptable levels, or if average crop yields in a certain region drop below an acceptable level.

It was not viable for traditional insurers to assess and cover many small farms with low margins, as it was not worthwhile to investigate claims, the study said.

"This shift could change the lives of millions of smallholder farmers across the globe, who face increasingly erratic weather due to a changing climate," Dan Osgood, a Columbia University professor who co-authored the study, said in a statement.

Mongolia, for example, has adopted an index insurance system for livestock, linking more than 15,000 nomadic herders to commercial insurance and a government disaster safety net.

In India, where more than half the population is employed in agriculture, rainfall variations account for more than 50 percent of the fluctuations in crop yields, the study said.

Weather-based insurance, currently used by more than 12 million farmers, offers a crucial cushion to protect them against financial collapse due to crop failure.

In Nigeria, more than 6 million farmers will be benefiting from one crop insurance plan by the end of this year, said senior agricultural ministry official Débísí Àràbà.

The scheme allows farmers to buy insurance for the equivalent of $2.50 and offers a payout of up to $100 if their crops are destroyed by fires, floods or other disasters.

Government officials need to physically assess damage to crops in order for farmers to receive a payout under the current plan, he said, but the state is trying to move that process onto the internet.

"We want to improve the technology so farmers can take a picture of their (damaged) crops and send it in," Àràbà told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"We want to reduce the overhead costs of transactions and create greater private sector involvement so farmers have access to the widest possible sweep of insurance products."

Reporting By Chris Arsenault; Editing by Tim Pearce

Improvement in Insurance Industry - CBL Annual Report

The Inquirer

The Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) has disclosed that performance of the Insurance Industry shows significant progress in 2014 compared to previous years.

The CBL said working in collaboration with development partners as well as other local key stakeholders made significant stride in strengthening the legal, institutional, and regulatory framework of the insurance sector.

According to the CBL Annual Report of 2014, the new Insurance Law of 2013 was passed into law, replacing the 1973 Act and several new regulations, aimed at further strengthening the sector, including the new capital requirements which were also developed to be issued and published early 2015.

Accordingly the total assets of the insurance industry as at October 31, 2014 valued US$39 million and total liabilities are valued US$14.58 million. The CBL said gross premium was atUS$28 million.

The CBL also noted that there was also significant improvement observed in corporate governance, internal control, and risk management.

However, the CBL said due to the Ebola epidemic, the sector, like all other sectors of the economy, faced serious challenges, in terms of slowdown in acquiring new businesses and delinquency in premium payments during the year.At end-2014, the number of licensed insurance companies was 20, the CBL said.

The CBL Annual Report also disclosed that the current number of insurance companies reflects a significant reduction up from 24 prior to CBL taking over the regulation and supervision of the sector.

At the same time, CBL placed a moratorium on the licensing or entry of new companies in the insurance sector, which remains in force, the report said.

According to the Central Bank the moratorium is intended to safeguard the sector from oversaturation, which has the potential of undermining the viability of the sector.

Going forward, the Bank intends to implement measures aimed at further strengthening the sector; some of those measures will require consolidation and merger among existing companies, the report said.

Axa looks at cyber attack insurance policy in UK

The Guardian 

Individuals afraid of cyber-attacks may soon be able to buy insurance that would allow them to clean up the damage caused by hackers.

The insurance company Axa is already offering such policies in France and is looking at devising a similar policy for the UK market.

Nicolas Moreau, a senior executive at the French insurance company, said the policy, which is sold as an add-on to house insurance, was intended to clean up private images posted online rather than hide information legitimately published.

Speaking on the fringes of the Davos meeting of the World Economic Forum, where the risk of cyber-attack became a topic of debate, Moreau said: “If your reputation has been damaged, or your kids’ reputation, we have people to clean up the issue.”

The aim, he said, was not to remove news articles but private information made public. He gave the example of images of a teenage girl taken by her boyfriend. “We’re not looking at dictators trying to improve their reputations,” he said.

Moreau did not give a timescale for when such insurance might be available in the UK and said the company was looking at how best to develop it.

He said cyber-attacks on infrastructure such as stock exchanges, the payments system or energy supplies “could be as effective as a bombing of a city”.

Axa, which hires hackers to test its own online security, sells insurance to companies to cover any liabilities they face as a result of a cyber-attack.

Moreau was making his first visit to Davos to discuss climate change, a major topic for debate among delegates after the former US vice-president Al Gore launched his 24-hour concert Live Earth to promote public awareness of climate change.

Africa looks to extend new disaster insurance to Ebola-like epidemics

(Reuters) - African countries want to extend a new catastrophe insurance fund, which made its first payout of $25 million this month, to include protection against epidemics in the wake of the devastating Ebola outbreak.

The African Risk Capacity (ARC) agency, a specialized body of the African Union, launched a scheme last year to insure against natural disasters. It is an effort to break Africa's reliance on foreign aid and address the impact of climate change by using innovative financial techniques.

The ARC paid $25 million in its first year of operations to Senegal, Mauritania and Niger to mitigate the effects of a severe drought in the arid Sahel region south of the Sahara -- well above the $8 million in premiums paid by those countries.

The other African nation to take out a policy, Kenya, paid $9 million but received no insurance payment.

Richard Wilcox, the ARC's director general, said that its success so far had encouraged 12 countries to sign up for policies for the second year.

African states, he said, have also approached ARC to develop insurance against epidemics after the Ebola outbreak in West Africa killed more than 8,800 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone -- severely damaging their economies.

“The scale of the Ebola crisis in those three countries was a wake-up call to everybody,” Wilcox said, and his agency was working with virologists and other experts to design a system of coverage.

"Technically, this is much harder than the weather risk because with weather we have 30 years of reliable data. Disease outbreaks are much rarer.”

The World Bank estimates the three countries hardest-hit by Ebola will lose $1.6 billion in economic output this year. Mining companies have suspended expansion plans, agricultural production has slumped and tourists have avoided the region.

ARC was capitalized using $200 million from the British and German development institutions. That money will be paid back without interest in 20 years time, allowing the ARC to offer below-market premiums to African states.

By pooling disaster risks across east and west Africa, which have uncorrelated rainfall patterns, the ARC is also able to undercut commercial insurers. On top of drought coverage, the fund will offer cyclone and flood insurance next year.

By making use of reinsurance, ARC was only liable for the first $15 million in payments this year -- meaning that it received $2 million more in premiums than it paid out. On an average year, it would expect to do even better, Wilcox said.

Sovereign Trust Insurance to celebrate 20 years of professional underwriting

Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc, one of Nigeria’s very few professional underwriting firms clocked 20 years on January 2, 2015. 

Though the drums have not been rolled out to celebrate the anniversary but sources close to the company have indicated that the Management has concrete plans at a later date to celebrate the company’s two decades of professional underwriting and a heritage of true entrepreneurship. 

The vision of one of Nigeria’s finest underwriters,  Oluseun Ajayi came to fruition with the able support of another prominent business personality in the person of H.H. Ephraim Faloughi, OON. Together, this duo shared a common dream that has become a reality today. A veritable and formidable team was put in place under the leadership of the Visionary pioneering Managing Director,  Oluseun Ajayi, ably supported by the incumbent Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Wale Onaolapo, as the Head of Technical Operations at inception.

Two decades after, the underwriting company has become a force to reckon with in the comity of insurance companies in Nigeria and beyond; recording so many pace-setting initiatives as it journeys through the years. The company has never looked back since it commenced operation; ensuring that adequate cover is provided in the most professional manner to everyone that has at one point or the other embraced the Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc Brand.

The company has metamorphosed a great deal in the span of itstwo decades of existence; having commenced business in 1995, following the restructuring and recapitalization of the then Grand Union Assurances with an authorized and paid-up capital of N30Million and N20Million respectively. The company, with its current Corporate Head Office situate on 17, Adetokunbo Ademola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, with 16 other offices spread across major commercial cities in the country. The company attained the status of a publicly quoted company in 2004, and was listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange on November 29, 2006.

Currently, the authorized share capital of the company stands at N5.2 Billion divided into 10.5billion units of 50kobo per share with a fully paid-up capital and Shareholders’ funds of over N3.4Billion. Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc has diverse shareholders from a wide range of individuals and institutional investors with a robust Board of Directors of distinguished personalities.

The company boasts of innovative products and services that can latch onto the avalanche of emerging opportunities in the Nigerian Insurance landscape and beyond, just as it is always willing to collaborate with every relevant stakeholder in the industry such as NAICOM, NIA, NCRIB and other veritable business associates.

Over the years, the company continues to invest in research aimed at developing top-of-the-notch innovative products and services while deploying Information Technology to accelerate its operation in ensuring efficiency and as a means to reaching out to its teeming customers across the country. The company has adopted several initiatives to develop the retail end of the insurance market; one of such products was the birthing of SWIS-F in 2008, (Sovereign Trust Wellbeing Insurance Scheme for the Family), a personal accident form of policy with an annual premium of N1,500 for adults and N250 for children between the ages of 6-17years. Benefits range from N250,000 toN650,000 and it could be graduated depending on the insured preference when taking up the policy.

The Management of the company is highly committed to maintaining the highest level of standards in terms of staff development and capacity building in ensuring that the workforce is tuned to global best practices. Another distinguishing feature that sets the company apart from the pack is its dynamic management team with deep expertise and competence across major sectors of the Nigerian economy.

On a very consistent basis, the company has over the years maintained its A- rating from the Global Credit Rating, GCR, based in South Africa, on its claims-paying ability, capital adequacy ratio amongst others.

Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc has put in place a five year strategic blueprint which became operational in 2013 to take advantage of the opportunities in the industry which will enable the company amongst other things, enlarge its business scope, reinforce its position as a reckoning brand in the comity of insurance companies in the country, increase its market share by enhancing and leveraging on strategic alliances to improve customer service, deepen competency and increase product range. The company has strategic plans to entrench a balanced proactive and conservative risk management culture that deploys ERM framework as a competitive differentiator. The ERM framework will clearly focus on supporting the combined objective of market share leadership as well as high shareholders’ value.

To further unlock the inherent enormous potentials in the underwriting firm and to strengthen its capacity in the insurance industry, the company recently opened its Rights Issue, on January 14, 2015, placing on offer a total of 2,290,585,798 Ordinary Shares of 50 kobo per share for every three (3) ordinary shares of 50 kobo each held as at the close of business on Thursday, June 19, 2014. The offer will come to a close on February 20, 2014.

The Management is reaching out to all its existing Shareholders to take advantage of this unique opportunity once again inconsolidating their ownership of a Brand that is set to transform the Insurance Landscape home and abroad.

One claim can push insurance up 41 percent

A single insurance claim for a minor traffic accident can increase your annual premium 41 percent, according to a report by insuranceQuotes.com.

In some areas of the U.S., one claim can push premiums up by 76 percent and a second one can nearly double a consumer’s insurance bill, the Web site said.

“Many consumers underestimate the consequences of making claims because they can affect your rate for years,” Laura Adams, a senior analyst at insuranceQuotes.com, told TheDetroitBureau.com.

In some cases, she said, the increase in premiums can exceed the amount of the claim – particularly if consumers’ rates remain high for several years.

In its second annual study of insurance rates, the Web site found that a single claim increased a customer’s rate by an average 41 percent – 3 percentage points higher than the previous year.

Consumers in Massachusetts typically saw a 76 percent increase in rates after one claim, the highest in the U.S., the study found.

California was a close second at 75 percent, with New Jersey third at 72 percent. Drivers in Maryland generally saw the smallest increase at 22 percent.

Claims for collision, property damage or bodily injury drove rates up 41 to 45 percent, the report said.

Comprehensive claims for property theft or incidents such as pothole damage to wheels increased premiums by about 2 percent a year.

The study by insuranceQuotes.com was conducted by Quadrant Information Services, which used data from six major carriers in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, TheDetroitBureau.com said.

Pension fund:Tough route to infrastructural financing

Chuks Udo Okonta

Accessing pension  fund for infrastructural financing can be likened to the biblical saying that "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle..." this is owing to the stringent measures put in place to protect the fund.

Although pension operators believe the fund is money held in trust for workers, industry observers believe the stringent rules are capable of denying the public benefits accruable from good infrastructure and by extension continue to impact the pension scheme negatively as poor infrastructure put great burden on employers making it difficult for them to fulfill their obligations as required by the Pension Reform Act.

Section 5.2.3 of the Regulation   on Investment   of Pension Fund Assets outlines         the    investment    criteria    for   pension    fund    investments     in Infrastructure, as follows: the Infrastructure   project shall be: Not less than N5billion in value and must be  awarded   to  a  concessionaire    with  a  good  track   record through   an   open   and   transparent    bidding   process   in accordance with  the  due  process  requirements   set out  in the Infrastructure Concession and       Regulatory Commission  (ICRC)  Act    and    any    regulation     made pursuant thereto and certified by the Infrastructure Concession  and  Regulatory  Commission   (ICRC)  and approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

The regulation states that   fund can only be invested in core  infrastructure projects, whose business plans and financial projections indicate that they are viable as well as economically and financially rewarding for investment by pension funds.

 It said the  bonds   or   debt    instruments    issued   to   finance    the infrastructure project shall in addition, have robust credit enhancements  for example, Guarantees by the Federal Government   or   eligible    bank!    Development finance institution or MDFOs; Multilateral Development Finance Organisation for example,  International Finance Corporation (IFC), African Development Bank (AfDB) and so on.

Continuing it said the value of the Infrastructure Fund shall not be less than N5billion, while the   Infrastructure Fund shall have well defined and publicized investment objectives and strategy as well as disclosures of pricing of underlying assets, including any other     necessary    information.    All    annual   financial statements of the Fund shall be audited by reputable firms of chartered accountants.

" Also, the Infrastructure Fund shall have satisfactory pre-defined liquidity/exit routes, and  be managed by experienced   Fund managers,    versed    in    infrastructure    financing    and registered with the SEC as Fund Managers.

"A minimum of the 75 per cent of the Infrastructure Fund shall be invested in projects within Nigeria.The National  Pension  Commission   and the licensed  PFAs would  ensure that the pension  funds  are only deployed  into infrastructure   projects  that are safe and generate  stable streams of revenue to adequately  repay institutional  investors, such   as PFAs," it said.

Observers are of the belief that using part of the over N4.6 trillion pension assets to finance economic infrastructure will help jump-start the economic making it possible employers especially the envisaged informal sector to contribute and plan their future.

Altantic Beach joins call for Gov. Rick Scott to order pension fund investigation

ATLANTIC BEACH | Momentum is building in support of a state investigation of the Jacksonville Police and Fire Pension Fund.

Atlantic Beach city commissioners voted 3-0 — with one recusing himself and another absent — to approve a resolution Monday asking Gov. Rick Scott to order an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement or the state inspector general’s office.

The action is the first time a government body has supported state Rep. Janet Adkins’ call for the investigation. In a Dec. 10 letter, Adkins asked Scott for the investigation, and cited a series of articles in the Florida Times-Union.

Commissioner Jimmy Hill recused himself, saying as a retired firefighter he is a participant in the pension fund. He receives a pension fund as a result of his 28 years of service. Hill said he wouldn’t vote on it because he didn’t want to risk any potential conflict of interest or the perception of a conflict of interest.

“Even though the attorney said that it’s probably OK that I vote on it because it doesn’t have an effect, I would like to recuse myself from the vote just because I feel it potentially would be perceived [as a conflict of interest],” he said.

City Attorney Rich Komando told commissioners whether Hill voted was his personal decision.

“I didn’t want to vote on something that one day ends up being a conflict. … It just feels like I shouldn’t be voting on it because it directly affects me,” Hill said.

Hill also told the commission that the firefighter union representative told him that it supports an investigation.

Commissioner Jonathan Daugherty was absent for the vote, but arrived later at the commission meeting.

Voting to approve the resolution without comment were Mayor Carolyn Woods, Mayor Pro Tem Mark Beckenbach and Commissioner Maria Mark.

Meanwhile, the Jacksonville City Council will consider its own resolution calling for a state investigation.

The legislation filed by Councilman John Crescimbeni will be introduced at Tuesday’s meeting of council.

“I would hope the City Council would pass that,” Crescimbeni said Monday. “I think there’s been enough controversy and questions swirling about with regard to the management and the fiscal expenditures of the Police and Fire Pension Fund that my colleagues would support Rep. Adkins and a review of the fund.”

Council President Clay Yarborough is a co-sponsor on the legislation, which will go through the council’s committee process before coming up for a full council vote.

If approved, the resolution would be sent to Scott, leaders of the state House and Senate, and the Duval County Legislative Delegation.

The issues raises by the resolution are similar to the message crafted by Atlantic Beach and Adkins’ letter.

Atlantic Beach doesn’t pay anything directly to the Police and Fire Pension Fund, which is an independent agency of the city of Jacksonville. However, Atlantic Beach contracts with the city of Jacksonville for firefighting service.

The Atlantic Beach resolution asks the state to investigate three areas.

■ Determine whether the Police and Fire Pension Fund followed state laws and rules when it created a multimillion-dollar pension plan for senior staff members at the pension fund.

■ Examine whether the pension fund followed state laws and rules in determining the eligibility of police and firefighters entering the Deferred Retirement Option Program.

■ Research the historical facts leading to the pension fund’s financial problems so lawmakers are able to “craft common sense solutions” that will “prevent any future occurrences.”

Mayor Woods told the Times-Union before the meeting that her constituents pay taxes to Jacksonville and Atlantic Beach so they have an interest in the pension fund being financially stable and sound. Equally important is ensuring the fund is managed properly, she has said.

Police and Fire Pension Fund Executive Director John Keane has said the fund doesn’t see any justification for a state investigation, but he doesn’t object to anyone asking for one.

The pension plan for senior staff members, which includes Keane and was created in 2000, has been a source of legal conflict.

In 2012, Cindy Laquidara, who was general counsel for Jacksonville at that time, said the pension fund’s board had no authority to create that pension plan. She demanded the pension fund close that pension plan and turn over all the money in it to the city.

The senior retirement plan currently holds about $4.3 million to pay pensions to one retiree, the survivor of another retiree, and pensions to Keane when he retires.

The pension fund’s lawyer countered in 2012 with a memo saying the Legislature empowered the board to set compensation for the fund’s employees, and a pension is a form of compensation.

The memo said the City Council’s authority to create pension plans only covers city employees, and the pension fund’s staff members are employees of the pension fund, not the city.

The issue regarding the Deferred Retirement Option Program, known as DROP, also involves conflicting interpretations by the pension fund’s staff versus the City Council Auditor’s Office and General Counsel’s Office.

Keane has said city ordinances regulate DROP, not state law.

In regard to Atlantic Beach requesting a historical review of the pension fund, Keane said a Jacksonville pension reform task force did that in a lengthy report by task force Chairman Bill Scheu.

Before Atlantic Beach commissioners voted on the resolution, it asked Jim Adams, legislative assistant to Adkins, to explain why she is requesting the investigation and the resolution she wants from it.

Adkins in her research of the pension fund issue has noted “concerns expressed by the media as well as by constituents in Atlantic Beach, Jacksonville Beach and the Nassau [County] area as well that there may have been some improper decisions in the way certain pension allocations have been made. That certain individuals may not have been entitled to a full pension,” said Adams, who didn’t identify those individuals.

“… We’re hoping that this is all clean and no problems are there, and the purpose is to really develop transparency in the process. And to allow the citizens, especially those receiving the pension, are receiving their benefits,” Adams said.

No one spoke in opposition to the council vote.

Teresa Stepzinski: (904) 359-4075

David Bauerlein: (904) 359-4581