BY NKECHI NAECHE-ESEZOBOR- The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Universal Insurance Plc, Dr. Benedict Ujoatuonu, said the company is thriving in retail business with the help of technology.
He made the revelation at the 2023/2024 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Nigerian Association of Insurance and Pension Editors (NAIPE) held at Insurers House, Victoria Island, Lagos recently.
“The dynamic of our retail operations is digitasation, nothing more. We have a whole lot of Web Aggregators who are taking advantage of our products and we are using their platforms. What we do is that as long as you are an Application Programming Interface (API) technology-driven technology company, we do ‘hand-shake,’ from their aggregation points, you can buy our products and do everything and it ends up directly in our Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) without human intervention. So our operations are digitally organised that is the strategy we are using for our retail.
“As of today, we are already discussing with a technology company on how to deploy Artificial Intelligence (AI) for our operations. We had presentations and everything ready for deploying AI from the beginning to the end both in assessment, in adjustment, in settlement, in everything concerning our business.
“We are digitally savvy in everything we do, without it we cannot drive our retail segment, Dr. Ujoatuonu said.
On the flagship of the Company’s retail products, and how technology is driving its retail segment, he said “We have local travellers insurance and Keke PASS Insurance where we are having collaborations with some groups and that is also driving other areas.
Speaking on the impact of the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS 17) on insurance operations, he said the process has been challenging, adding that operators are doing everything possible to adapt to it.
“The processes leading to full adoption of the model has been challenging to all of us in the industry. It has affected our operations and reporting. But that is the system that has come to stay,” he said.
