Nigeria Liability Insurance Pool considers new market opportunities in Cybercrime, Kidnapping, others

Edwin Igbiti, chairman of the Pool at its 10^th Annual General Meeting said the recent global pandemic and its disruptive impact on economies, businesses and households are causing businesses across the world to re-think their business models, product offerings and value propositions.

He said for instance, that the insurance business transactions in most cases require physical contact and on-site inspections, but with the Covid-19 pandemic being easily transferable through physical contacts, the prospects for insurance business seem uncertain at least in the short-term.

Igbiti however noted that a closer look at the pandemic however shows that it has not come entirely without its own benefits, for instance, the insurance industry could explore the windows of opportunity made available through the risks associated with cybercrime.

He said virtual markets and tech platforms such as Amazon, Zoom & Facebook have been significant boost in revenues as customer resort to online/virtual solutions for their business and household needs.

The chairman however charged the management of the Nigerian Liability Insurance Pool to continue to assiduously explore emerging opportunities in new markets including Cybercrime Liability Risks, Kidnapping and Ransom while tailoring solutions for the varying needs across customer segments.

Nigerian Liability Insurance Pool started in 1988 by an association of some reputable insurance companies with the objective of domesticating liability risks within the industry.

Then, the industry was facing the challenge of getting overseas reinsurance for liability risk and so they thought of coming together as a pool to bridge the gap and underwrite that class of risks. The pool is an aspect of reinsurance. It is not the conventional reinsurance, so you can say is a quasi reinsurance. But, their duty is to cover the risk of their members alone and not the entire industry.  From the pool, members that suffer losses are assisted to pay their claims.

Specifically, the pool focuses on liability aspect of motor insurance, public and product liability, liability aspect of contractors-all-risk and workmen’s compensation insurance.  The pool has gone through a lot of transformation in membership beginning from 2001 and recapitalization in 2005 and finally consolidation in 2010, now having 10 members from initial 25, earlier on.