PwC proffers ways to boost sector’s penetration in Nigeria

Anxious by the low insurance penetration in the country, PwC has insisted insurers to form strategic coalitions, improve interactions, build trusted relationships and meet changing customers’ needs to reverse the trend in the country.

The Financial Services Advisory Leader and Chief Economist at PwC Nigeria, Dr. Andrew Nevin, said this at the public lecture held to observe the 10th anniversary of Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc, in Lagos, while urging insurers to change customers’ needs with new offering by customising insurance solutions.

Nevin also enjoined the operators to remove large, entrenched bureaucracies, and offer seamless customer experience and use new technology and services to increase access to information that can empower consumers’ decisions.

He called for the formation of joint ventures and partnerships between intermediaries, adding that service providers and reinsurers are a good way to augment existing capabilities and established symbolic relationships.

Nevin identified the causes of low insurance penetration to include poor public perception, absence of innovative products and distribution channels, poor monitoring and enforcement of mandatory policies and complex and lengthy policy and claims processes.

He said extracting profiling data from all of the unstructured purchasing, social media and other digital trails people leave behind would allow insurers to gain unprecedented insights into their health, wealth and behaviour.

“Increased processing power and smarter analytics will pave the way for more informed prevention, risk selection and premium pricing, allowing insurance companies offer cheaper and more personalised products, while still sustaining margins,” he said.

The Chairman, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc, Obinna Ekezie, said financial services in Nigeria is no doubt saddled with the responsibility of providing the fulcrum not only for economic growth but the development of the larger society.