Royal Exchange posts N10.7bn as Gross Written Premium 2015

Royal Exchange Plc, Nigeria’s premier insurance and financial services group, has announced that it generated a Gross Written Premium of N10.7 billion from its business activities for the financial year ended December 31, 2015, representing an increase of 14 percent over the figure of 2014, which stood at N9.4billion.

Net Premium Income for the period amounted to N8.4Billion, with a modest growth of 9 percent over that of Year 2014, which stood at N7.8Billion. Total Assets also increased to N26.525 billion, up by two percent from the preceding year.

Total claims paid for the period under review amounted to N3.0 billion, an increase of 26 percent from 2014, which was N2.4billon.

The Group Managing Director of the company, Alhaji Auwalu Muktari, stated that despite the very harsh operating environment in the year under review, the group was able to grow its top-line figures by participating in large-ticket financial transactions, as well as playing in the retail insurance market, which shall be a key growth driver in the years ahead.

According to Muktari, “Royal Exchange Plc will in the years to come, continue to be an aggressive player in the retail market in Nigeria and will be looking at different strategies to increase its product offering and visibility in the marketplace, while not losing track of the corporate market, where the returns and margins, are dwindling, yearly”.

The Group Managing Director noted that the bottom-line results of the group did not turn out as expected, due to increase in operational costs, branch expansion, acquisition of new business solutions to improve its internal business processes, as well as thin margins on investments. To stem this tide, Alhaji Muktari said that “the company has implemented various cost optimization strategies and measures which shall guarantee profitability in both the current financial year and the years ahead.

He further added that the Group will under some form of restructuring, to enable it streamline its operations and processes and make it more responsive to the changing needs and demands of its clientele.