NAN-H-24
Insurance
By Chiazo Ogbolu
Lagos, March 23, 2017(NAN) The Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) on Thursday said the advent of contemporary technology had changed the face of insurance industry.
Mr Emmanuel Okunoren, the NCRIB President, made the assertion at the 2017 eInsurance Conference in Lagos.
Theme of the conference is: ”Insurance Brokerage: Enabling Insurance Brokerage with Contemporary Technologies.”
According to him, there is no way any industry can survive by turning its back to innovation and technology.
“Adoption of technology by insurance industry will go a long way in improving the industry and make it to have impact on the public,” Okunoren said.
Also, Mr Babajide Olatunde-Agbeja, the Managing Director, Boff and Company Insurance Brokers Ltd., said at the conference that insurance business was seen as “a retail business-driven by volume’’.
Olatunde-Agbeja said, “Adopting technology in the industry will enable the business to move faster.
“Brokers must ensure that they transact their insurance business anywhere; and that can be better enhanced with technology.”
In his remarks, Mr Fatai Adegbenro, the Executive Secretary of NCRIB, identified lack of penetration as one of the problems facing insurance industry, saying that it could be tackled with technology.
“The future is here technology wise and it is for people that can foresee it and place themselves there to be relevant.
“Most things are being done online and the insurance people can also key into this.
“There is need to advertise and be able to reach more people and this can be done most effectively with technology,” he said.
In his contributions, Mr Anselem Igbo, the Chief Executive Officer, Stanbic IBTC Insurance Brokers, said that having a good data would enhance the business of insurance industry.
“ There is no sector of the economy that technology has not impacted on.
“If there is data, there is no need to do another `Know Your Customer’ because of the existence of data.
“There is need to focus on digitisation, as this will help in processing of insurance claims,” he said.
Mrs Nike Braimoh, the Managing Director, Brightway Insurance Brokers, said that what insurance industry needed most was to create people’s awareness.
Braimoh said that if people, especially those in the villages, were aware of insurance benefits, they would want to benefit from the products of the industry.
She said that the advent of Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) had enhanced access to people in the villages.
“We can market and increase our productivity through the internet; since there is a phone penetration, we can leverage on this to have good penetration,” she said.
Braimoh said that there was need to have more brokers as the existing 1,500 brokers were not enough to make the necessary impact. (NAN)
CAN/AK/GOK
Edited by Akin Makanjuola/Olagoke Olatoye
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