A publication made available today by the Statistics Department of the National Insurance Commission NAICOM admits that the Nigeria insurance market “sustained its progressive trend of market performance recording a milestone growth to close at N1.003tr, representing about 27 percent growth compared to the N790bn recorded in 2022,” with a claims tag of N536.5bn.
For the high claims trajectory which the Commission had consistently classed as operations obligation, the stats on market average stood at about 71.4 per cent and the Directorate of Research, Statistics & Publications said its “a direct reflection to the ongoing regulatory measures regarding claims settlement.”
The high claims belching life business recorded about 95 per cent of net claims to the total recorded claims during the year while the market average stood at about 71.4 per cent of the N536.5bn gross claims reported at the close of fourth quarter 2023.
On the performance of the two traditional businesses non-life and life, the non-life accounted for 61.3 per cent of all premiums written during the year while the life segment contributed 38.7 per cent, valued at N388.1bn.
The potential to retain premium within the market is remarkable and the report cleared that the market also recorded a retention of about 87.7 per cent for the life business and about 54 per cent for non-life while the aggregate market average retention stood at 66.7 per cent during the same period.
The major growth drivers identified in the report pertaining to non-life segment of the market were oil and gas and fire insurances contributing 27.3% and 24.1% respectively.
NAICOM stats also shows that the market recorded total assets was N2.67tr and capitalisation of N851bn in 2023.