By Ngozi Onyeakusi——Underwriting firm, Sovereign Trust Insurance (STI) Plc has paid out a whopping N13.3 billion to its clients across the country that suffered different kinds of losses over the last five years.

The claims paid out between 2016 and 2020 underscores the company’s strong financial ability and undeterred commitment to guarantee peace of mind to all its customers as they go about their businesses without fear on a daily basis.

A claim is a reimbursement from the insurance company when the insured has suffered a loss that is covered under an insurance policy. According to the data made accessible to journalists, Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc paid a total of N13, 312,459,054, (Thirteen Billion, three hundred and twelve million, four hundred and fifty-nine thousand and fifty-four naira) during the five-year period to different insureds across the country and across her major product lines.

The breakdown of the claims shows that Energy insurance ranks number one with N4.2 billion while Fire insurance is number two with N3.1 billion. Motor insurance ranks third with N3.036 billion as General Accident comes fourth with N1.3 billion and Marine is fifth on the table with N1.2 billion while Construction All Risk Insurance (CAR & Engineering) is the sixth with N235 million.

Olaotan Soyinka, Managing Director/CEO, Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc commenting on the claims history said, “it is in the policy of the company to pay all genuine claims promptly while stating that claims payment is one of the paramount reasons for their being in business”.

Soyinka further said, “We take claims payment as a priority in our company and that is why we have remained trusted by our clientele and our Broker partners who have continued to do business with us over the past years”.

He said insurance is about building trust and confidence, and that is why customers who benefit from our service go ahead to recommend us to other customers without our knowledge.

He added that the company has built capacity to continually meet customers’ obligations in terms of offering quality products and settling all genuine claims promptly to the satisfaction of customers.

Olaotan Soyinka said to achieve this excellence in customer service, the company has invested heavily in technology that ensures customers from any part of the world are able to file their claims, track the processing and get paid without a one- on-one encounter with STI staff.

According to him, this applies to all lines of the business, except for those that requires loss adjusters’ involvement and in some other occasions where the claims process gets complicated for some extenuating reasons.

Commenting also on the intent of the organization as regards claims settlement, Jude Modilim, Executive Director, Technical Operations said, “the company is committed to settling genuine claims and there is no compromise to that as long as long as the “Ts” and the “Is” have been properly checked and certified. Genuine claims settlement in Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc is a major focus of our operations and we do not pay lip service to it. “for us, claims settlement is the only way to prove that we are well and alive to our responsibilities as an underwriting firm in the country. We intend to uphold this obligation and we will always walk our talk.” Modilim added.

Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc commenced business in January 1995 following the restructuring and recapitalization of the then Grand Union Assurances Limited.

Operating currently through a network of branches Nationwide with its Head Office on 17, Adetokunbo Ademola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos. Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc is licensed as an Insurer by the Federal Government with authority to underwrite all classes of Non-Life business.

Currently operating with an authorized share capital of N7.5 billion, the company has a fully paid-up capital of N5.7 billion and shareholders’ funds of over N7.7 billion with assets base of over N13.4 billion. The ownership of the company is made up of diverse shareholders from different walks of life across the industries.