Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc says the way to make insurance the fortress of the financial sector is to swoop on retail business and take them to Nigerians without bias for the financially included and excluded.
This was disclosed by the management of Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc when the executive members of the National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondents (NAIPCO) paid them a courtesy visit (Tuesday) at the insurer’s headquarters on Ikorodu Road, Lagos.
The managing director/CEO, Femi Asenuga, (pictured) commented that insurance penetration rate is still low compared to the huge population of the country, insisting that coming up from the lower rungs of penetration ladder where the market is currently listed, would mean taking the industry to the grassroot where the retail business could make a mark. He said the company demonstrated this a few years back when “we got approval for 36 products, this has never been done by any company in Nigeria.”
Asenuga said Mutual Benefits had captured from inception this approach to improve penetration and the success scored in this regard has made it a reference point in the area of micro insurance. Adding: ” we are restless when it comes to insuring the underserved and unserved Nigerians with financial solutions in the area of risk business in the country. We have become a reference point in retail business in the country and for investors.”
He said the media and the market are partners in product development, as the operators keep the tab on putting on offer products and services needed, the media keep the focus on awareness by unrelenting report on unabridged need for insurance cover for life and assets, and for all businesses.
Similarly, the managing director/CEO, Mutual Benefits Life Assurance Limited, Mr. Ademola Ifagbayi, promised to continue to prioritise its claims obligations, saying the firm had paid billions of naira in claims in recent years, a testament of its fidelity. He urged Nigerians to uptick the firm for their insurance business, pointing out that the company had invested in technology to serve customers better wherever they are.
Earlier, the chairman, NAIPCO, Mr. Chuks Udo Okonta, scrolled the plans of the association to the management, which includes; the bi-annual NAIPCO journal, annual national conference, product profiling, advert to news initiative, a special boat for raising insurance awareness and upscaling companies that take advantage of any of the platforms.