Universal Insurance PLC, said it posted a Gross Written Premium (GWP) of N15.25 bn in the year ended December 31, 2024. The Managing Director/CEO of the Company, Dr. Jeff Duru, disclosed this in Lagos while speaking at the 2024/2025 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Nigerian Association of Insurance and Pension Editors (NAIPE), which they co-sponsored. He also cited Q1of 2025, closing the GWP with N8.07 bn, above the quarter target with over 100 per cent.
Duru speaks, “Last year, we recorded N15.25 bn in Gross Written Premium (GWP) and profits after tax of N2.8 bn. Our shareholders’ fund as at the first quarter is in the neighbourhood of N16.4 bn when compared to N13.25 bn reported in 2024.
He said service is a charge the company holds high and an experience for all customers in its service chain including claims paid. Aiding this he remarked, is its computerisation policy. “All our personal line products are digitised. You can go through our website, access our products, get your quotes and make payment there seamlessly, and you can also initiate claim payment and we follow it up at the backend.
“Universal insurance has come to stay and to serve, give peace of mind, excellent customer experience. We are progressive, we are highly innovative, and bringing insurance to the doorstep of our customers, with seamless operations, accessibility and affordability. Our products are highly affordable. You can try us and you will get the best service with peace of mind.”
He speaks further, “Our initiatives and products include shops insure cover. The shops insure cover was basically designed for shop owners and businessmen that operate businesses at an Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) level. It provides them with fire insurance cover, burglary, hotel insurance cover, cover for personal injury and alternative accommodation during relocation effort.
“We have OkadaPass. This product was designed for companies, organisations that are into delivery, people that deliver products and services through bike. It’s an online or digital service provision for the delivery business. It covers the bike, the rider and the package, because the package can be of great value to the service providers and personal injury to the riders.
“Our initiatives also include our digital customer portal, mobile app through which our customers can access our products, get quotes, initiate renewals, and initiate claims. We have our digital chat bot, or Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven chat bot and visual assistant. That is 24/7 services that will take the position of our service centers at any point in time, our chat box will deliver fantastic experience to the customers both chat and voice services.
“We have our digital pre and post loss survey, especially for motor vehicles. Now the manual intervention in surveying or inspecting vehicles is no longer there, once you want to insure your vehicle. Our survey team will deploy the digital portal for the AI driven portal to you through your phone, and you will use your phone to do the physical inspection of your vehicle. Even when there is a claim, it will still be deployed to use it to do your inspection, and the information will come to our database, and we can see everything. It cut down fraud, cut down manpower and reduce cost and give you that excellent touch with speed of service for our claim delivery, these are part of the advantages that come from that service.
Featured picture: Managing Director, Jeff Duru (L) and Tunji Oyebayo, Head Marketing at the event.
