Ebere Nwoji

The insurance sector this year witnessed a relatively uneven distribution of market share among both life and non-life underwriting firms, with top three life underwriting firms accounting for 43.8 per cent share of the entire life segment.

Also, top three companies in the non-Life segment holding approximately 34.8 per cent share.

This represents the individual companies’ performance for Q2 2024 as disclosed by the sector regulator the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) in a document it titled Bulletin of the Insurance Market Performance anchored by the  research and Statistics Department and published by the commission recently.

Though the commission did not list the names of the top three firms, it said 86.6 per cement of all life business was concentrated among the top ten players, with the bottom 10 players contributing just 1.3 percent of the life insurance premiums.

The commission said on  the other hand, in the non-life section, the top ten underwriters generated around 66.3 of the gross written premium, while the least 10 insurers controlled only 1.1 percent of the market share during the same period.

The gross premium written figure of the sector within the period stood at N813. 1 billion showing a significant growth of 47.7 percent from the the figure in 2023.

The commission said the industry during the period  reported a total asset of N3,687.9 billion, signifying a 9.5 percent  increase from the N3,336.4 billion reported in Q1 2024. 

The balance sheet indicates that the non-life business holds assets amounting to

N2,292.4 billion, while the life business accounted for N1,395.5 billion of the industry total assets. 

“These figures highlight a significant increase in both segments, reflecting the overall robustness and upward trajectory of the industry” the commission stated.

In terms of market size, the regulator said insurance industry has indeed demonstrated resilience, good soundness, profitability, and stability in view of the market behaviour during the period of the second quarter. 

According to NAICOM, this is supported by the key indicators of premium generation, claims experience and a significant asset expansion which is suggestive of effective risk management, prudent underwriting practices and, certainly an effective regulatory environment prevalent in the industry. 

It said the market remained not only profitable in the current but signifying a positive outlook.

On claims payment, the commission said consistent regulatory focus on public awareness and the enforcement of timely claims settlements have had a significant impact on the insurance industry.