Experts as well as stakeholders in the financial service sector will converge to deliberate on how insurance and pension fund operators can build their investment portfolios to maximise profit.
The deliberation, which is taking place at the 2020 annual conference of the National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondents (NAIPCO), with the theme ‘Promoting Bankable Investments Portfolio for Insurance and Pension Sectors’, is billed for next month in Lagos.
To this end, the Chairperson of the occasion is the Chairman, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Mr. Austin Enajemo-Isire, while the Director General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Dr. Muda Yusuf, is the keynote speaker, even as the Chairman, Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc, Dr Akin Ogunbiyi, will be the Special Guest of Honour and chief launcher of the new NAIPCO website.
The Commissioner for Insurance/CEO, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Sunday Thomas, and the acting Director General, National Pension Commission (PenCom), Aisha Dahir-Umar, have confirmed their attendance for the conference.
Speaking on the preparation for the event, the President, NAIPCO, Chuks Udo Okonta, said “as a critical stakeholder, it is the desire of NAIPCO that companies in both the insurance and pension sectors build up investment portfolios that would translate to huge returns on investments for shareholders and contributors of the contributory pension scheme”.
He said the organised private sector has consistently lamented of low funding for manufacturers as the investment community have accused Organised Private Sector of Nigeria (OPSN) of lack of bankable investment projects in which pension and insurance companies can invest in, despite the two sectors having an excess of N11 trillion funds that could be invested in the economy.
For the insurance sector, he stressed that the theme of the conference is apt based on the argument that the sector is destroying value due to the consistent low returns on investment to shareholders.
For the pension sector, he said the theme is also apt as PFAs have limited investment outlets with the ban on investment in treasury bills by the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) as well as, the current low yield on bonds, the mainstay investment instrument of the pension industry
Okonta stated that the experts would lay bare all available bankable investment outlets for the operators to reap maximum benefits for their shareholders and customers’ benefits.
Moreover, he said a new NAIPCO website would be unveiled at the conference, while there would be awards for individuals or organisations that have contributed immensely to the growth and development of either the insurance or pension sectors.