Royal Exchange General pays N1.97bn claims in 2014

Chuks Udo Okonta

Royal Exchange General Insurance Company (REGIC), one of Nigeria’s foremost insurance underwriter with a focus on General and Special Risks, has paid out N1.976 billion as claims settlements to its clients at the end of the year 2014.

The Managing Director REGIC, Richard Olutayo Borokini, who disclosed this in Lagos, said his company’s focus is the prompt settlement of genuine insurance claims and this will continue to be the business philosophy of the company in years ahead, adding that the company will continue to support the business community as it strives to increase the manufacturing capacities of industries in the country.  

“Royal Exchange has once again demonstrated its strength and ability to honour its financial obligations and also protect the interest of its various corporate and individual clients, as there is a conscious effort to have a genuine partnership with the clients based on trust and integrity, core values which was instilled by the founders of the company and have continued to drive the operations and strategic directions of the company,” he said.

He further added that “Customer satisfaction is the fulcrum of insurance business and this inevitably builds customer loyalty. Once Royal Exchange is able to pay customers claims as they arise, more and more customers and the general public will have faith to take out insurance policies on their lives and properties because they are convinced that should a claim/loss arise, Royal Exchange will be able to meet its financial obligations to its clients.”

Giving a breakdown of the various amounts paid in the different insurance classes, Borokini said a total of N639 million was paid on Motor and Accident insurance policies accounting for 32.37 percent of the N1.976 billion paid out as claims, while N552 million was paid out on Fire and Industrial All Risks (IAR) policies, representing 26.4 percent of total claims paid and Special Risks insurance policies accounted for 25.9 per cent, amounting to N512 million as claims.

Other classes of insurance with claims payments include marine insurance policies with N212.2 million paid out as claims, representing 10.7 percent, while Engineering Insurance policies  resulted in total claims payment of N67.8 million paid out, which is about 3.4 per cent of the claims paid to various cleints. 

Claims paid on other classes of insurance such as Bonds, Guarantees and other such classes of insurance accounted for N21million of the total claims paid in 2014.

Speaking further on the import of the huge sums paid out in the last one year by Royal Exchange, the Managing Director of REGIC said “It is a testament to our enduring capacity to shoulder any form of risk and evidence of our financial depth derived from prudent and conservative accounting system, a highly motivated workforce as well as a professionally structured organisation.”

“The payment of these claims has shown that Royal Exchange General Insurance is more than capable of meeting its various claims demands, especially as in the past, the company paid close to N4billion to Nigerian bottling Company for the fire in its Benin plant in 2010 and was the lead insurer in a consortium that paid out over over N3.63billion to Friesland Foods West African Milk Company (WAMCO) over the major flood disaster that occured in its lagos factory in 2011,” Borokini said.

Royal Exchange General Insurance Company (REGIC) is a fully-owned subsidiary of Royal Exchange Plc. Other companies in the Group are namely: 

§  Royal Exchange Prudential Life Plc (Life Assurance Services)

§  Royal Exchange Finance and Asset Management Limited (Financial Advisory Services)

§  Royal Exchange Healthcare Limited (HMO and Health Insurance)

§  Royal Exchange Microfinance Bank Limited (Banking Services)