Cornerstone Insurance writes N13.5bn Premium in 2019
L-R: Tokunbo Bello, Executive Director, Technical/Operations; Ganiyu Musa, Group Managing Director/CEO; Segun Adebanji, Chairman of the Board; Chidinma Onwubere, Company Secretary; Steven Iwenjora, Non-Executive Director; & Chidiebere Nwokeocha, Executive Director, Business Development; all of Cornerstone Insurance PLC., at the 28th Annual General Meeting of the company held Wednesday in Lagos.
Cornerstone Insurance Plc, has announced its financial statement for the year ended December 31, 2019, recording impressive performance in all its operations despite the challenging business environment.
While presenting the company’s Annual Report and account for the financial year to the shareholders at its 28th Annual General Meeting which took place in Lagos Wednesday in line with COVID-19 guidelines, the Group Chairman, Mr. Segun Adebanji, said the Gross Written Premium of Cornerstone Insurance Plc and its subsidiaries for the year under review was N13.05 billion, representing an increase of 13% over the previous year.
Premium from life insurance, according to him, accounted for 32.5% of the gross premium written, an increase from 25% in the previous year.
The largest contributors to General Business gross premium written, the Chairman said, were Bond, Engineering and Accident (N2.12 billion); Oil & Gas (N2.04 billion) and Motor (N1.36 billion).
He said their continued growth in Special Risk lines, especially in the power, aviation, and oil & gas sectors “is a testament to the confidence our customers and partners have in our technical underwriting expertise which we continue to strengthen.”
“Our investment portfolios yielded positive performance figures driven mainly by trading activities on The Nigerian Stock Exchange, fixed income securities and the profit from continuing operation of a joint venture arising mainly from the gain on disposal of investment property. Overall, investment activities contributed a total of N4.8 billion to the Group performance.
“The Net Claims Ratio for the year stood at 47% and has been relatively stable since the Company put in place stricter risk acceptance parameters, as competitive pressures have driven premium rates to oneconomic levels. Consequently, our company ended the year with a Profit Before Tax of N4.01 billion, an increase of 22% over the previous year,” he said.
Worthy of note, according to Adebanji, ”is the improvement of our solvency margin surplus from N102 million in 2018 to N4.9 billion in the year under review,” representing 198% increase, “almost double the regulatory benchmark,” adding that the cash and cash equivalent balances also rose from N4.2 billion to N12.64 billion, “thus greatly improving our liquidity.”
He disclosed that during the year, the Company received an approval in principle from the National Insurance Commision (NAICOM) to start Composite Takaful Insurance, stating that Cornerstone Takaful Insurance Limited will be a subsidiary focused on selling both family and general Takaful products in Nigeria.
To achieve the Company’s recapitalization plans, the Board of Directors of the Company has recommended the transfer of one billion, seven hundred and eighteen million, four hundred and forty-two thousand, six hundred and seventy-two naira (N1,718,442,672) from the Company’s share premium account to the share capital account by issuing bonus shares in the proportion of seven new shares of fifty Kobo each for every thirty existing shares of fifty Kobo each.
