SA Life pulls in over N4bn SA Life pulls in over N4bn revenue

Despite the harsh economic environment under which businesses operated in 2009, SA Life Assurance Ltd, one of the nation’s foremost life underwriting companies, has said that it recorded over N4bn revenue for the year.

This includes incomes from investment-linked products and premiums generated from insurance businesses during the year. This is a steady increase from N3.1bn recorded in 2008 and above N1bn achieved in 2007.

The company’s Managing Director, Mr. Austine Enajemo-Isire, disclosed this to a group of senior media men who paid a courtesy visit to the company’s Victoria Island head office in Lagos on Tuesday.

According to him, although 2009 was a very challenging year for business concerns, SA Life Assurance Ltd, a member-company of Standard Alliance Group, devised innovative strategies that enabled it remain in good stead, explaining that the full financial result of the company would be released once approved by the appropriate regulatory bodies.

He assured that with the structures already put in place to drive the company’s individual/group life policies which eventually tally with the National Insurance Commission’s (NAICOM) project tagged “Market Development and Restructuring Initiative” (MDRI), SA Life’s revenue growth is expected to be monumental in 2010.

He explained that just as the MDRI targets to grow individual and group life assurances, SA Life has put in place a strong agency system to reach the grassroots market, increased its branch network to over 40 and invested in E-solutions to ensure convenience for its teeming clients.
According to him, “SA Life and SA Insurance Plc have just jointly installed a Turn Quest Pinnacle Insurance Suit solution to automate our insurance businesses. With this latest on-line device, transacting any underwriting businesses with us is now just a matter of minutes.”
Explaining further that the company has recently perfected a modern technology-driven method of claims and maturity payment which takes any processing stress away from the customers, the Managing Director said “we now operate a system which allows the customer to process and receive such payments at our branch office nearest to him.”

He disclosed that the success of the company since its transformation a few years ago was as a result of “the wealth of experience of the board and the staff’s professional performances and astute contributions which have jointly translated SA Life to a leading and very reliable competitor in the life underwriting market today.”

According to the Managing Director, “we have continued to sharpen our skills to meet the expectations of policyholders and ensuring that at each point in time, they see value in our services.”

Optimistic about opportunities in the Nigerian insurance market, Enajemo-Isire stated that the company was not in a haste to go off-shore, noting that there were great opportunities yet untapped in Nigeria.

To him, Nigeria with over 140 million people is the biggest insurance market in Africa, stating that it can fully be tapped if effort is increased on awareness and products taken to the nooks and crannies of the country.

He disclosed that the company had a basket load of products already in the market, assuring that more were being developed to fill the gaps in consumer needs.