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By Henry Uche
As 2025 gets underway, experts are setting a clear agenda for the Nigerian insurance sector, predicting a year of significant transformation. For them, the industry is expected to embrace technological advancements, such as ICT and data analytics, to enhance operational efficiency and customer service.
Additionally, they note that evolving regulatory frameworks and the increasing demand for sustainable and digital solutions will drive innovation and reshape traditional business models.
Experts believe that these changes will not only improve the customer experience but also unlock new growth opportunities, making 2025 a major year for the insurance industry’s future development.
However, from an Integrated Marketing Communications Practitioner’s perspective, analysts point to the insurance industry, NAICOM to drive the sector on a success path. In an exclusive interview with Daily Sun, Mr. Segun Bankole of Sovereign Trust Insurance expressed his expectation that the regulator will take a more intentional and committed approach to positioning the insurance industry as a leading force within Nigeria’s broader financial sector.
“By doing so, all stakeholders in the vital sectors of the insurance industry should be expected to operate with the highest standards of professionalism and ethical conduct. There should be no room for shortcuts or the existence of untouchable figures whose actions are beyond scrutiny”, he said.
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For Mr. Bankole, the role of the regulator is clear: to enforce rules with impartiality and objectivity, ensuring that all industry players are held to the same standards without bias or favoritism. This approach, he believes, is essential for fostering a culture of integrity and trust within the sector. For the broking arm of the insurance industry, he said “I would love to see more professionally-inclined broking companies who will be actively involved in ensuring the growth and development of the insurance industry in 2025 and beyond. Being the intermediaries between underwriters and the insuring public, it will not be out of place for the broking companies to work hand in glove with underwriters in placing risks that will not be catastrophic to their business. In this case, risks should be carefully selected and properly examined before passing them on to underwriters for insurance”
For the Agents of the business, Mr. Bankole, who is the Deputy General Manager, Corporate Communications & Investor Relations, charged Agents to strive and ensure that they work within the ambit of the rules guiding their operations in the year and beyond. This, he said, would engender positive insurance upshot, deepen penetration, and boost trust and confidence.
For the National Insurance Association (NIA), which is the umbrella body for practitioners of the insurance industry, he said: “I would be glad to see the Association protecting the interests of their members while also demanding some degree of professionalism in their conduct of the business. The member companies as well should strive to make it an enviable one by ensuring that they show some commitment to the uplift of the Association in 2025 and in the years ahead.
“The Association should be one that will be incubating ideas for growth through all the technical committees that have been put in place and make sure it does work with other stakeholders in the industry for continuous development and advancement of NIA.”
For the Training arm of the Industry, (College of Insurance and Financial Management), he recommended that the syllabus for its students and intending students should be designed in such a way that it will be global in outlook while also taking into consideration the realities of contemporary Nigeria.
“Gone are the days of archaic textbooks that do not bear relevance to the realities of the time” he maintained.
As a critical component of the stakeholders of the insurance industry in the country, the expert posited that Loss Adjusters should be seen as the objective umpires in the issue of loss adjustment. “Loss Adjusters should not compromise their professional ethics on the altar of financial gains. Their duties should be carried out without any sense of bias or favouritism at any point in time.”
As the conveyor of insurance information, he opined that the media and the insuring public in 2025 should continue to be the watchdog of the insurance industry in a dispassionate and objective manner. “The reportage of the media on the insurance industry should be one that will boost the image of the industry while also reposing the confidence of the industry in the minds of the insuring public. Let there be a fair playing ground from all the critical stakeholders in the insurance industry in 2025 and beyond” he urged.
