Yinka Adekoya, MD/CEO

By Ngozi Onyeakusi– — The National Insurance Commission has commended Coronation Insurance and Access Bank for bringing on board Bancassurance model, an initiative designed to cater for the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) sector across the country.
The Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Sunday Thomas gave the commendation in his keynote speech during a webinar organised by Coronation Insurance Plc in partnership with Access Bank Plc, with the theme: “Managing Business Risks at a Time of Uncertainty”.
The Commissioner, who was represented by his Technical Advisor Mr. Taiwo Adeoye said, “The Bancassurance scheme aligns with the campaign of the Commission, in terms of financial education and inclusiveness, and it will give the insuring public an opportunity to be able to get enlightened as to what insurance products they need to have at any point in time to protect their assets.

Thomas noted that giving the inflation and recession in the economy, which made people to reduce cost, this is not the time to ignore insurance.

“Because there is inflation and recession in the economy, the tendency to reduce cost is high. Despite the biting inflation in the country, as people reduce the cost of expenses, this is not the best time to reduce insurance”, he cautioned.
Thomas, who was represented by his Technical Adviser, Mr. Taiwo Adeoye, stated; “Sometimes what we gain in terms of reducing cost could even be less in terms of what we lose. You could say that this is not the time to take up insurance, or this is not the time to insure some assets, but at the end of the day, you may end up eating into your portfolio or bottom-line to be able to find your footing and sustainability.”

“It is good to have a good risk management framework as well as be able to manage our insurances and assets. Many are left with the option of cutting cost, however not all cost-cutting will measure success and some might even end up hurting our businesses.

“As business owners and as businesses spring up, we must ensure that we put the right processes in place in trying to manage our assets and ensure that we have more strategic thinking.

“Risk is part of our business endeavours and the best thing is to evaluate and see what part of the risk you can transfer. The insurance industry has proven its relevance in the affairs of the economy”, he said.

Earlier in his presentation, Managing Partner of Crown $ Lords, (Chartered Accountants ), Mr Omoyayo Gbede urged
SMEs operators, to leverage on the Coronation Bancassurance to grow their business.
Dwelling on the topic , “Inflation in Nigeria and possible ways to reduce impacts on your Business ‘, he noted: “2020 is a year that the like may not come in a long time. It has brought us to the reality that we must always be on our feet. We didn’t plan for inflation and increase in foreign exchange and interest rates”. “We didn’t plan for a lot of things and yet we are in it, and who are the most impacted? They are the SMEs, because of their lower financial capacity, and their reliance on keyman who may be the owner of the business.” He added that we are in a New normal , and without effective risks management, it will be difficult for any company.

Also the Group Managing Director, Continental Reinsurance Plc, Dr Femi Oyetunji, who spoke on ‘How to manage your business risks, identified top SMES business risks as, Keyman.

He listed the risks to include: Currency Risks; Regulatory; Property Damage; Business Interruption; Reputational Risk; Supply Chain; Cyber Risks and Fraud.

He highlighted need for documentation of systems and processes; succession planning and keyman insurance as how to manage Keyman risk.

For currency risk, he called for diversification, substitution; local content; hedging; linked securities; zero tolerance to non-compliance.

On reputation risk, he canvassed the need for business ethics – core value; good governance, quality control; professional indemnity insurance and directors/officers liability insurance

For cyber risks he urged SMES to educate their staff; have good policies and procedure; use firewall; enact business continuity plan and cyber insurance.