Annuity business bounces back, leads contribution to gross premium

AS the crises over transfer of all annuity assets under the management of life insurance companies to Pension Fund Custodians, PFCs, finally settles, growth in annuity business is now outpacing insurance industry’s total life premium income.

Vanguard investigations also show that this line of business could be a major revenue earner for some life insurers going forward.

It will be recalled that the National Pension Commission, PenCom, in 2016 directed life insurance companies to transfer all annuity assets under their custody to a PFC of their choice. The directive came on the heels of allegations that life insurers were mismanaging the annuity funds.

However, while some companies are beginning to benefit from annuity business, few others are still getting their fingers burnt. Figures recently released by the Nigerian Insurers Association, NIA, showed that while gross premium income for life business increased by 27.6 percent (to N161.7 billion in 2017 from N126.7 billion in 2016), annuity business grew by 33.9 percent to a whopping N77.8 billion from N58.1 billion in 2016.

Vanguard, Monday 18, February.

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