Royal Exchange General Insurance Attracts N3.6n Foreign Investment

Ebere Nwoji
Royal Exchange General Insurance (REGIC) said it would leverage on the 39.25 per cent stake acquired by the InsuResilience Investment Fund(IFF) to reach one million farmers with Agric insurance services in the next five years.

Managing Director of Royal Exchange Plc, Benjamin Agili, who disclosed this at a press briefing to formerly announce the deal, in Lagos, said the acquisition by the foreign firm has injected N3.6 billion into its operations and will enable it meet the new capital benchmark
“The acquisition, which results in a N3.6billion capital injection into the REGIC is in line with the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM)’s directive for insurance companies to increase their share capital in line with the new regulatory requirements recently introduced,” he stated.

According to him, as one of the leading non-life insurance companies operating in the insurance market in the country and having a strong presence in the agric-insurance space through its partnerships with the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) and some state governments, this investment by the IFF is expected to have a huge impact on the company’s presence in the agric-insurance space to enable REGIC increase its presence even further.

He said the proceeds of the investment will help REGIC to spur growth by increasing its risk capital and supporting its underwriting capacity in agriculture, hereby extending its outreach to low income farmers.

“With this investment, REGIC will be able to achieve its key objective of reaching out to over 1million farmers within the next five years, offering the best-of-bred agric-insurance services to enable them increase their productivity, make Nigeria more self-reliant in food production, which impacts the economy with growth of our GDP and the agro-allied economy,” he said.

According to him, other strategic impact the investment will bring to the company will be in the areas of information technology (IT), market expansion, as well as helping the company meet its financial inclusion target.

This, he said, would be achieve by enabling REGIC develop new products, as well as create alternative channels of distribution to reach its various clientele, especially those who are financially excluded as a result of accessibility, availability and knowledge of insurance and how insurance can improve their well-being.”

Speaking on the investment partnership, Senior Vice-President Private Equity at BlueOrchard, Ernesto Costa, said the history, team and commitment of REGIC to agriculture insurance make it a great addition to our portfolio.
According to him, REGIC is uniquely positioned to capture the opportunity presented by 30 million under insured small scale farmers in Nigeria.

“We are thrilled to partner with and support REGIC with capital, technical assistance and our international network in the agriculture insurance space, with the objective to increase the resilience of small scale farmers to climate change,” he said.
Also speaking on the investment, Chairman, Royal Exchange Plc, Mr Kenny Ezenwani, Odogwu, said: “REGIC has entered into strategic alliances with various stakeholders in the agricultural space to drive insurance within that sector of the economy.”

He said agriculture and retail insurance, is the future of insurance, noting that Royal Exchange, will continue to develop products and services to ensure that it remains relevant in this space.
“REGIC is determined to take advantage of growth initiatives available in the industry. Our strategy has always been to ensure we attract the best technical experts globally and capital to meet regulatory requirements and the needs of our stakeholders in the five subsidiaries where we currently have 100 per cent shareholding,” he said.