Insurance companies agree on uniform technology

By ABDUL OLALEKAN

Insurance companies in Nigeria have agreed to, henceforth, use a uniform technology to render insurance services to Nigerians.

This, it was learnt, is to reduce the heavy cost most insurers incur on procurement of technology for their day to day operations.

To this end, the insurance operators, as a body, are currently engaging the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS) to make this plan a reality, even as discussions have reached advanced level on the uniform platform.

NIBSS provides the infrastructure for automated processing, settlement of payments and fund transfer instructions between banks and card companies in Nigeria.

The Managing Director, Leadway Assurance Company Limited, Mr. Oye Hassan Odukale, who is the Head, Media and Publicity of the Insurers Committee said:”We (operators) are communicating with an agency (NIBSS) that will assist us in managing our cost on technology. We are trying to come up with a uniform technology. With that, it will assist underwriters to cut cost”.

Odukale, who is the Managing Director, Leadway Assurance Company Limited, said this will cut down the cost of operations of the underwriters, thus, allowing insurers to declare more profits, even as it will also allow companies to provide effective and efficient services at a reduced cost.

Insurance operators are fond of complaining that the high cost of operation, of which technology takes a bigger chunk, is having a downturn on their balance sheets, especially, as they spend much on software as well as buying and installation of these technological gadgets.