Insurance companies in the country earned N630.36bn premium in 2021 and paid N238.05bn as claims, the National Insurance Commission said on Monday.
The Head, Corporate Communications and Market Development, National Insurance Commission, Rasaaq Salami, disclosed this in the commission’s unaudited result for 2021.
According to the commission, the total gross premium income earned by the insurance companies in 2020 was N520bn.
NAICOM said the total asset of the underwriting companies in 2021 was N2.14tn while net claims paid was N238.05bn.
According to the Nigerian Insurance Digest report of the Nigerian Insurers Association, the life and non-life underwriters earned N316bn, N363bn and N413bn premiums in 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively.
They also recorded a premium of N490bn in 2019.
As of the end of 2020, policies held by individual Nigerians stood at 1,034,383, while corporate and non-individual policies were put at 891,128.
Total policies written stood at 1,925,511, while the insurance penetration in 2020 was 0.72 per cent.
The Commissioner for Insurance and Chief Executive Officer of NAICOM, Mr Olorundare Thomas, had during a recent conference for insurance directors warned the management of insurance companies in Nigeria against refusal to pay claims.
He said while the commission had implemented various measures to reposition the insurance industry and make it contribute significantly to the country’s Gross Domestic Product, the issue of claims settlement was threatening such efforts.
According to him, the insurance business is about payment of genuine claims and anything short of that will continue to hurt the insurance business in the country, thereby giving the industry a poor reputation.
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