By Adedapo Adesanya
Allianz Nigeria Insurance Limited says despite certain speculations, it has no plans to exit the Nigerian market, having invested N7.47 trillion in close to three decades in the country.
In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of the launch of the insurer’s funeral insurance product in Lagos on Monday, the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mrs Adeolu Adewumi-Zer, said that the underwriter intends to remain a trusted partner of Nigerians for life by adding value to its customers as it had done in other countries.
She said the underwriting firm had penetrated the Nigerian corporate space and is focusing on its retail market and the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to provide support.
Mrs Adewumi-Zer explained that Allianz Insurance, a subsidiary of Allianz Group, one of the world’s largest investors, managing around €809 billion on behalf of its insurance customers, has the capital to remain in the market for over 100 years.
The chief executive said that the insurance firm’s asset managers – PIMCO and Allianz Global Investors, managed more than €1.9 trillion of third-party assets.
“In 2021, over 155,000 employees achieved a total revenue of €149 billion and an operating profit of €13.4 billion for the group,” she said.
In his contribution, Mr Afolabi Lawal, Chief Financial Officer of the organisation, Mr Afolabi Lawal, said that the insurer recorded a premium of about N1.8 billion in the first quarter of 2022, which was nine per cent higher than what it sold in the corresponding quarter of 2021.
Mr Lawal explained that the decrease last year could be attributed to several economic factors such as inflation while the increase in the current year could be hinged on more awareness of the necessity of insurance, as a result of the global crisis.
He said that the company was expecting over 50 per cent growth in 2023.
Incorporated in 1993 as Union Assurance Company Plc, the company was relaunched as Ensure Insurance Plc in 2016, acquired in 2018 by Allianz and rebranded as Allianz Nigeria Insurance Ltd.
The Allianz Group is one of the world’s leading insurers and asset managers with 126 million private and corporate customers in more than 70 countries.
The insurer offers a range of personal and corporate insurance services, such as: property, life and health insurance to assistance services, credit insurance and global business insurance.
