Insurance brokers urged to be proactive on emerging risks

The president of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB), Rotimi Edu, has urged members of the brokerage fraternity to be proactive in developing new products to mitigate the impact of risks on the market.

Edu stated this at the recent seminar organised by the Lagos Area Committee of the NCRIB tagged, ‘Special Risk Insurance: Contemporary Issues. According to him, there are currently contemporary risks within the insurance subsector of the economy that underwriters are not focusing attention on.

“I want to believe we should be able to put some searchlight on some certain things. We have to be proactive with our practice; we talk about new products, we are supposed to recommend ways to mitigate risks,” he said.

Sunday Nkemakonam Ozomah, senior manager, Linkage Assurance Plc, said lack of statistics is one of the major constraints in the market.

Speaking on emerging risks in the market, Ozomah posits that predominantly among them is the technological risk. “…narrowing it down, you have to talk about the cyber risks, cyber terrorism and every other type of cybercrime that comes under technological risks,” he stated.

According to him, cyber risks speak to the fact that each and every one of us is exposed by using our phone on the internet. However, he is of the view that brokers need to be aware of risks and should start thinking about putting together insurances to cover those items in terms of policy that will take care of identity theft, unauthorised bank withdrawals online and other related risks.

He states further that the market has huge potentials based on available data of phone usage and internet penetration in Nigeria. “Whereby you have people using phones in almost every part of the country. So, you can imagine a business whereby you and I will have insurance because we have a phone and can make use of the internet on our phone. It is a huge income for the country; it’s a huge income for the insurance organisations and a huge income for the brokers,” said Ozomah.

Lekan Ajisafe, chairman, post assurance brokers limited, said that there are over 600 risks in the aviation sector. According to him, the current Russia-Ukraine war could cost insurers in the London market over $10 billion.

Ajisafe, who was represented by Tayo Balogun, MD, Post Assurance Brokers Limited, spoke on the emerging risks in the aviation sector and said that consequential lost are not covered; however, exposure liability is compulsory for every aviator.