From left: Chief Operating Officer, FBS Reinsurance Limited, Stephen Kyerematen; Chairman of the company, Bala Zakariyau and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Fola Daniel, at the just concluded 49th Africa Insurance Organisation(AIO) Conference and General Assembly, held recently in Algiers, Algeria.
BY NKECHI NAECHE-ESEZOBOR–FBS Reinsurance Limited (FBS Re), one of Nigeria’s youngest reinsurance companies has recorded N16,588 billion gross premium written in its second year of operation.
The reinsurer’s GPW grew from N7.906 billion in 2021 to N16,588 billion in 2022; indicating 108.9 % growth.
Speaking to BusinessToday on the sideline of just concluded 49th Africa Insurance Organisation(AIO) Conference and General Assembly, the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Fola Daniel, said the company’s profit after tax rose to N2,491 billion at the end of 2022.
He added that the company closed with assets in excess of N26,296 billion from N15.805 billion achieved in 2021, representing 66.3% increase.
Commenting on its performance he said: “Our performance is fair. We thank God that we achieved what we achieved, but we can do a lot better. The market has been supportive to us and we have enjoyed tremendous goodwill beyond our imagination.”
On reinsurance capacity he said : “there is still a missing link in terms of capacity. There is surplus capacity to take but the number of reinsurers don’t have enough capacity. We still have the huge oil and gas, aviation but there is depth of capacity in the market.”
On how the industry can get more capacity, he said: ” the existing companies can build more capacity by adding additional capital, more capacity can also come in as a result of new entry.
On the value FBS Re is adding to the market, he said “when we came in, we had capacity gap and one of the values we brought to bear is reducing the capacity gap.
Secondly, “FBS Re means ‘For Better Service’ we want to do things differently from how other reinsurance companies do their business. For instance, it can take other companies two months to respond to cash call, we can’t afford that, we respond to our cash call in 48 hours after all documentation are okayed.
Thirdly, “when you offer us a business it either be YES or NO. You can give a YES in one day, two days or even three days but in our own case we must give a YES or NO within one hour. This will enable the broker or the insurer to find quick alternative if we say NO.
FBS Re was licensed on November 25, 2020 by the National insurance Commission (NAICOM) and commenced operations on January 1, 2021.