Leadway leads Nigeria insurers, as few firms dominate industry

Last week we looked at quoted firms but have decided to expand our scope today to all insurance firms (quoted and unquoted) who have released 2013 FY results which were approved by industry regulator NAICOM.

The figures show that Leadway Assurance plc outperformed other Nigerian insurers as it recorded the highest gross premium income (GPI) based on the full-year financial results according to data from the NAICOM website.

The 22 insurers who have released Full Year 2013 that were approved by NAICOM cumulatively recorded GPI of N179.9bn which is 0.22 percent of Nigeria’s GDP.

Five firms (Leadway, Aiico, Custodian and Allied, Continental Re and Mansard) collectively contributed N113.3bn or 63 percent of the total figure of N179.9bn.

The insurance sector contributed a mere 0.57 percent to the GDP of N80.22trn, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Further breakdown of the figures showed the top three of Leadway, Aiico and Custodian and Allied contributed 23 percent, 13 percent and 11 percent respectively to the total figure.

Nigerian insurers are under-performing their African peers with regards penetration levels despite having a market of over 170m people and economy valued at $503bn.

Only 1.5 percent of the adult population or about 1.3m adults have an insurance policy, according to data from research firm Financial Derivatives Company (FDC).

Opportunities abound in the sector though.

The insurance industry value is expected to grow to N877.0bn and contribute 7.3 percent to GDP in 2018 this will be driven by contributions from motor Vehicles from automobile, oil and gas and housing sector in the near future.

Patrick Atuanya  & Bala Augie