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Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty Appoints First Chief Data Officer

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1 year ago

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Effective from April 1, Ali Shahkarami will be appointed as Chief Data Officer for AGCS. In this newly created position he will be responsible for the development and the delivery of Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty’s (AGCS) data strategy and will report directly to AGCS Chief Operating Officer (COO) Bettina Dietsche.

Data and analytics are important drivers for the future success of AGCS and form an essential part of the company’s transformation strategy. This has been recognized by the AGCS Board with the creation of the role of Chief Data Officer in order to lead the drive to data-first decision making culture at AGCS

In his new role, Shahkarami will focus on aligning various data initiatives, tools and investments with AGCS’s business and data strategy as well as Allianz Group’s data strategy. Together with the AGCS Data Solutions & Architecture team, which is reporting to him, he will empower and expand AGCS’s data governance framework to ensure privacy and fidelity of all data and applications and ensure that AGCS has the capabilities needed to deliver business-ready solutions that inform and strengthen decision-making across all activities.

Ali Shahkarami joined AGCS in 2012 as Head of Catastrophe Risk Research where he was responsible for research and development activities to capture risks of man-made and natural catastrophes. In 2018 he moved to AGCS’s digital incubator initiative XSE to become the Global Capability Lead on Underwriting where he led activities on digital transformation of client facing functions. A successor for his present role as Global Capability Lead for Underwriting within AGCS’s digital incubator initiative XSE will be announced shortly.

Before joining AGCS, the Canadian citizen held various positions as risk modeller and obtained a PhD in Structural Engineering from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

Bettina Dietsche, AGCS COO, commented: “Data and analytics are of vital importance for our success and for supporting our clients – not only for reporting and steering but also to boost analytic capabilities in Underwriting and Claims and discover new insights and opportunities. That’s why it is so important that we created this position with a clear mandate to drive our data initiatives forward. I wish Ali Shahkarami every success in this important role and trust that he and his team will help to further strengthen our data and analytics capabilities.”

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CIIN Announces Second Edition Of Insurance Textbook 

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5 days ago

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July 28, 2021

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CIIN Announces Second Edition Of Insurance Textbook

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Falekulo Emerges New MD Of Nigeria Re

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5 days ago

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July 28, 2021

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Falekulo

 

Mr Olugbenga Falekulo has been appointed as the new Managing Director of Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation, as part of efforts  to ensure that the Reinsurance firm continue in its quest for transparent and accountable management of insurance in the country.

Falekulo, with over 25 years of experience spanning across the sector, said he brought his wealth of experience and professionalism to the fore.

The new Managing Director stated that he and his team are prepared to take Nigeria Re to the next level in the market.

Although he did not disclose the strategic plans the new new management have put together, he assured that Nigeria Re is taking a new dimension in the insurance industry, promising that a new era is here for the company.

He has BSc in Insurance, Masters in Business Administration, and he is also a.member of the Chartered Insurance Institute of London.

Prior to this appointment, he had worked with NICON Insurance, Great Nigeria and Continental Re. He left Continental as an Exexutive Director before in 2014 and went into his private business.

He is well travelled and has attended so many courses within and outside Nigeria. He is married with children.

Nigeria Reinsurance has Mr Mela Audu Nunghe as its Chairman, Falekulo as Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr Olusegun Ilori as Executive Director, Finance & Administration, Mr Alexander Ayoola Okoh, the Director-General of Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) as Non-Executive Director, and Mrs Yvonne Isichei as Non-Executive Director (Independent).

Nigeria Reinsurance was established under the Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation Act No. 49 of 1977. It commenced operations on January 1, 1978, as Nigeria’s flag reinsurer, wholly owned by the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In 2002, the Corporation was transformed from being a Federal Government wholly owned Corporation to a privatised company with the government retaining some shares. The Corporation, which has been in operation for over 40 years, is in the business of assuming risks, providing reinsurance services and risk management solutions to its clients.

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Pension Fund Assets Now N12. 7trillion, Contributors 9. 4million

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7 days ago

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July 26, 2021

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By Sola Alabadan

The pension fund assets accumulated under the Contributory Scheme in Nigeria was N12.66 trillion as at 30 June 2021, while the number of registered contributors has grown to 9.38 million, the Director General, National Pension Commission (PenCom), Aisha Dahir-Umar, said.

She stated this at the workshop organised PenCom for journalists in Lagos on Monday. The theme of the workshop was “Positioning the Pension Industry in a Post COVID Era”.

The PenCom boss also informed that President Muhammadu Buhari  has approved the payment of some outstanding pension liabilities of the Federal Government, under the CPS.
This covered payment of outstanding accrued pension rights for verified and enrolled retirees of treasury-funded MDAs that are yet to be paid their retirement benefits, and the backlog of death benefits claims due to beneficiaries of deceased employees of treasury funded MDAs.
Similarly, the President also approved the payment of 2.5 percent differential in the rate of employer pension contribution for FGN retirees and employees, which resulted from the increase in the minimum pension contribution for employers from 7.5 percent to 10 percent, in line with Section 4(1) of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014, she added
She emphasised that these payments would boost the RSA balances of the beneficiaries towards better retirement benefits, while the settlement of these outstanding accrued pension rights of verified and enrolled FGN retirees would result in reversing a major challenge that has lingered since 2014.
She stressed that the commencement of payment of the reviewed monthly pension contribution rate by the Federal Government is another significant step in ensuring compliance with the PRA 2014.
According to her, the most recent technological innovation introduced by the Commission is the in-house designed and developed online Enrolment Application, which has capabilities to register, verify and enroll prospective retirees of Treasury-Funded Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
By the deployment of this new application, she pointed out that mass gathering of people has been avoided while enhancing convenience for the prospective retirees through a seamless enrolment process.
Another notable technological innovation by the Commission was the design and deployment of the Retirement Savings Account (RSA) Transfer System (RTS), which was launched in November 2020, she further stated.
The RTS is a Computer Application developed by the Commission, through which RSA holders transfer their RSAs from one Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) to another. Indeed, the activation of the RSA transfer provision, which deepens individual choices, is a major milestone in the implementation of the CPS.
The PenCom DG reassured stakeholders that the implementation of the CPS remains on course, saying that the maintenance of a consistent growth trajectory continues to justify the Commission’s overriding investment  philosophy of ensuring the safety of pension fund assets.
She added that public enlightenment and education is one of the five Strategic Focus Areas currently pursued by the Commission, lamenting that there still exists a knowledge gap on the CPS, 17 years after the pension reform in Nigeria.
Consequently, she maintained that the Commission is committed to reinvigorating its public enlightenment and education drive in order to address this challenge.
Other Strategic Focus Areas include the resolution of outstanding pension liabilities of the Federal Government; portfolio diversification of pension fund investments, improvement in customer service delivery across the pension industry and unrelenting pursuit of sustainable growth of the pension industry by expanding coverage of the CPS.

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