FBN Insurance Brokers plans digital solutions for market

FBN Insurance Brokers, a wholly owned subsidiary FBN Holdings has developed a digital roadmap that entails providing digital solutions for the Nigerian insurance market.

Part of the plan is a highly interactive website that would be re-launched soon with more Nigerians getting connected digitally.

Olumide Ibidapo, MD/CEO FBN Insurance Brokers said as a company “we continue to engage with the public and create as much awareness as we can, paying particular attention towards the financially excluded segment knowing that insurance is a solution everybody needs.”

Ibidapo who spoke during an interview with select journalists said the 21 years old brokerage firm is partnering with other stakeholders towards creating more channels and avenues to reach more people.

“We at FBN Insurance brokers believe that the future is digital. So we have developed a digital roadmap that entails providing digital solutions for the Nigerian Insurance market. Part of that plan is our highly interactive website that would be re-launched soon. With more Nigerians getting connected digitally, this is one area that must be paid attention to”.

According to him, there is no gainsaying that the business environment that we operate in is a very tough one, and to have navigated this tough terrain for more than 20 years is a testament to our resilience and continuous reinvention. We are happy to be making our input in nation development and this will continue and even get better years to come.

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Ibidapo stated “At 21, we are proudly in a special league of elite companies from this part of the world. Today, there are over 500 Insurance Brokers listed and registered with NAICOM. That number might keep growing as long as the industry as a whole keeps performing. Surviving new entrants and squaring up to old giants requires a strategy that makes competition irrelevant. In other words, we do not focus on what others do or don’t do; our focus is on how to out-perform ourselves year on year. These days, we are focused on disrupting our business and reinventing ourselves. This has really helped us over the years.”

He however commended the regulators for the work they have been doing thus far. “The growth we have been experiencing would not have been possible without their guidance. As recently as December 2020, NAICOM passed a circular on Micro Insurance window operations which will eventually see low income earners access insurance products tailor made fort them. This could be really significant in improving the penetration rate in Nigeria. But like they say, the reward for success is more work. There is still so much that can be done towards improving the state of things in the industry. I think in summary; the improvement we seek is in doing the things we are currently doing, or have started doing, better.”

According to Ibidapo, the insurance market potential in Nigeria is huge. Comparing our insurance penetration and uptake rate with that of other African countries like South Africa, Kenya and even Ghana, we see that we can definitely be doing more. But more importantly, comparing our present rate with our own potentials; we see even greater possibilities. Our population is mostly youth and the middle class seems to be growing. With some of the moves and waves that we are currently seeing in the industry, we can expect that the Nigerian Insurance industry will begin to convert more of its potential into reality, he said,

On the recapitalization in the insurance industry, he said the Covid-19 pandemic played a major part in slowing down the regulator’s plan for recapitalization. But it is something that i think will eventually come to play; and that for the benefit of the entire industry and all the major stakeholders.

“Ultimately, recapitalization will enable underwriters to play big and have higher capacity to underwrite more local insurance businesses and also meet up with their claims obligations. This will help in improving the trust that Nigerians have in the Insurance industry and consequently increase insurance uptake. I also would to encourage individual companies to not wait on the regulators before they improve their capital base. More capital can be utilized in increasing their capacity to underwrite more businesses and do more in the industry.”