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$130bn Insured Losses Recorded Globally In 2022, Says Aon

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Aon plc has published its 2023 Weather, Climate and Catastrophe Insight report, which identifies global natural disaster and climate trends to help make better decisions to manage volatility and enhance global resilience. The report reveals that natural disasters caused a $313 billion global economic loss during the 12-month period under review – 4 percent above the 21st-century average – $132 billion of which was covered by insurance.

Data showed that 2022 was the fifth costliest year on record for insurers, with approximately $50-55 billion of the global insured loss total resulting from Hurricane Ian in the United States – the second-costliest natural catastrophe in history from an insurance perspective, surpassed only by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which resulted in nearly $100 billion in insured losses on a price-inflated basis.

The report also highlights that approximately 31,300 people lost their lives due to global natural catastrophe events in 2022. The total number of fatalities remains below average for now 12 years in a row; however, more than 19,000 of the fatalities were heat-related deaths in Europe alone, primarily as a result of heatwaves.

While a majority of total losses in 2022 were left uninsured, the 58 percent “protection gap” was one of the lowest on record, highlighting a positive shift in how businesses are navigating volatility through risk mitigation, and how insurers are providing further protection to underserved communities through access to capital.

“This report explores the events and costs of catastrophes and natural disasters in 2022 that created a staggering amount of economic loss,” said Greg Case, CEO of Aon. “But this data also highlights a tremendous opportunity for us to continue to better serve clients. By working together on scalable solutions, we will not only mitigate risk, but bring together public, private and societal forces to accelerate innovation, protect underserved communities and strengthen the economy.”

While technological innovation has allowed for better insight as catastrophes unfold and faster and more thorough assessments of damages after an event, the Aon study examines resilience and the ability to overcome climate-related consequences – not only for physical risks, but in areas like the health of the workforce, reiterating the need to build multi-faceted strategies that account for climate change risk mitigation on all fronts.

Further findings of the 2023 Weather, Climate and Catastrophe Insight report include:

421 notable natural disaster events were recorded in 2022, higher than the 21st century average of 396.
75 percent of global insured losses were recorded in the United States, which was higher than the average of 60 percent.
Windstorm Eunice was the costliest individual European windstorm since 2010, with $3.4 billion in insured losses. Widespread hailstorms in France contributed to the second-highest natural disaster payouts for the country on record of €6.9 billion ($7.4 billion).
Droughts and heatwaves severely impacted Europe, the United States, China and other regions and global insurance payouts for the drought peril were the second highest on record, at $12.6 billion globally.
Flood losses in Australia broke the historical record as La Niña conditions persisted for a third year and Sydney recorded the highest annual rainfall.
Monsoonal floods in Pakistan had a far-reaching humanitarian impact on the country. In a summary of the 2022 monsoon season, the Pakistan Meteorological Department noted that country-wide rainfall from July to September was 175 percent above average.
Both severe drought conditions and a prolonged rainy season in different regions of Latin America reduced agricultural crop yield across the region.
“The devastation that disasters caused around the world demonstrate the need for wider adoption of risk mitigation strategies, including better disaster management and warning systems that improve resilience,” said Michal Lörinc, head of Catastrophe Insight at Aon. “While impacts of climate change become increasingly visible around the world, it is the socioeconomic aspects, demographics and wealth distribution that remain a major driver of financial loss. Data in this report will help guide organizations to not only enhance their own risk mitigation but take action to close the protection gap globally to better protect the communities in which we live and work.”

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Guinea Insurance injects N900m capital into business

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Guinea Insurance Plc, one of the oldest insurance companies in Nigeria said it injected about N900 million as capital into its business in 2022 and is in the process of listing 1.8 billion shares.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the insurance company, Mr. Ademola Abidogun disclosed this at the Nigerian Association of Insurance and Pension Editors’ (NAIPE) 2023 first quarter CEO’s Forum in Lagos.
Abidogun said the insurer has a lot of funds within its system and over N2billon cash under its management to do business.
He noted that the underwriting firm made the highest Gross Premium Written (GPI) of N1.4 billion in 2022, compared to the last ten years.
“We were also able to make underwriting profit. If you look at the statistics, Guinea insurance has consistently grown so much in its underwriting profit.
“When you check the financials, you will see that the core business of insurance is underwriting, which means; collect business, underwrite it and make profit,” he said.
According to Abidogun, the insurance company was working to improve its investment portfolio, as fund was essential to sustain a business.
The Managing director hinted that Guinea insurance’s claims payment method is one of the best in the market because the firm believes, one of the main reason for doing insurance business is to pay claims.
“If we pride ourself as one of the best in the industry in terms of claims payments, we must be able to pay claims after collecting people’s premium” Abidogun said.
According to him, while the underwriting firm had experienced some challenges few years ago in the market, it has been able to resuscitate its business between 2021 and 2022.
Abidogun noted that Guinea insurance also had to confront perception issues, because a lot of people think the insurer is a one man business, meanwhile it is a Plc with a very robust structure.
The managing director said that the insurance firm had started business well in year 2023 in terms of production and as at February, it had done over 300 percent of what it did same time last year.
“We will be able to deliver in terms of our plans for the year. The most important thing is for an organisation to have capacity, which has to do with financials and people driving the business and we will continue to evolve,” he said.

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Guinea Insurance Moves To Delight Shareholders

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The management of Guinea Insurance PLC is repositioning the insurance company to ensure value creation and optimum returns to its shareholders. the Managing Director, Mr. Ademola Abidogun, said.
Speaking at the Nigerian Association of Insurance and Pension Editors’ (NAIPE) first quarter 2023 CEOs Forum in Lagos recently, Abidogun said: “We have a very robust board and workforce that is made up of accountants, lawyers and other professionals with a very strong business experience working together to ensure we are where we are today.”
Abidogun said the company has invested so much in staff training and acquisition of technology, adding that currently “we have so many portals including the Third Party Portal which helps us in doing our Motor Business. Motor Business still remains the biggest of our products and we have partnership with a few brokers on that.”
According to him, “we are also getting new businesses from Brokers such as Marine Insurance for example. This segment is also growing despite the fact that there has been a lot of challenges in the areas of dollars and importation. Our oil and gas business portfolio too has also picked up because people are very passionate about insurance.”
On agric insurance, he said the Company is partnering with some international bodies to grow that segment.
He said the process of getting approval for Travel Insurance from NAICOM is ongoing.
Abidogun said the Company’s portal for its Motor and Marine insurance business is strengthening their partnership with some brokers, which he said have started patronizing them.
His words “The brokers partnership, our new business initiatives, our portal that we have for Motor and Marine insurances and some business with government agencies combined to ensure that we are getting value for our shareholders.”
In term of opening new branches, he said “We really don’t want to open a lot of branches but what we are doing is to have as many sales outlets as possible because to open new branch offices now is very expensive. We want to have sales outlets and well run central underwriting system and a central accounting system.
“Although we have few branches in strategic areas, we also want to open more sales outlets in strategic areas to complement the existing branch and enhance our operations in selling most of our products and repositioning our brands there.”

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Pension: PenOp Wants Bill Seeking To Exempt National Assembly Staff Discarded

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By Sola Alabadan

The Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp) has raised the alarm that the bill seeking to exempt the National Assembly Service from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) will have negative impacts on the pensioners and should therefore be discarded.

Recently, both Chambers of the National Assembly passed a “Bill for an Act to amend the Pension Reform Act, 2014, to Exclude/Exempt the National Assembly Service from the Contributory Pension Scheme and Establish the National Assembly Service Pension Board; and for Related Matters.”

PenOp stated that “the passage of this bill sets a dangerous precedence that will not augur well for hardworking Nigerians, working across the private and public sector, who depend on the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) for retirement security and stability.
“The introduction of the CPS in Nigeria marked a departure from the unsustainable pension schemes the country had been operating in the past. This scheme has brought transparency, international best practice and guaranteed peace of mind to millions of pensioners. For these reasons and many more, the need for the above bill is indeed unfathomable and unjustifiable.”
The pension operators expressed grave concern regarding the way the bill was passed, saying” The passage of this bill seems to have been unnecessarily expedited and shrouded in secrecy with very little engagement and input from critical stakeholders—as it was passed during the National Assembly’s recess.”” “Indeed, it is disturbing that this bill did not go through any public hearing, a key component of the legislative process that allows stakeholders to have their voices and opinions heard for possible inclusion in the process. If this was done, pertinent issues such as the amendment of retirement age, funding of pension liability, and the potential debt burden on government—all of which are affected by this bill—would have been debated and brought to the fore.
“The National Assembly prides itself as the heart of our democracy. Indeed, the halls of the National Assembly are the people’s halls. As such, it is extremely important that the legislative authority the National Assembly wields is in no way subverted to serve vested interests in passing anti-people legislation. The exemption of any agency or group from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) holds grave consequences for the Nation’s struggling fiscal position and will potentially upend the retirement security of pensioners who have given their blood and sweat in service to our great Nation.
“Therefore, without reservations, PenOp, as a critical stakeholder in Nigeria’s pension industry, wishes to state that it considers the passage of this bill a procedural anomaly and legislative immorality. Hence, we call on all well-meaning Nigerians to note this grave anomaly and join us in calling on the National Assembly to reconsider its decision as well as enjoin the Executive and the Judiciary to outrightly condemn this action.
“More specifically, we call on the National Economic Council, the Minister of Finance, Budget & National Planning, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and all relevant government stakeholders to look into this anti-people bill and ensure that it is not signed into law.
“Finally, should this bill proceed to Mr. President, we call on him to kindly refuse to assent to this bill in the interest of the people, the sustainability of the Nation’s pension system and the flawed procedure in which this bill went through.”

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