BECAUSE of the long gestation of life insurance business, shareholders of FBN Life Assurance must wait for three to four year before they could get dividend.
Mr. Dolapo Oni, assistant commissioner National Insurance Commission (Naicom) Lagos Control Office, who stated this at the launching of FBN Life Assurance said shareholders need a lot of patience by giving the company enough time to make profits.
According to him, “Life insurance business has long gestation, so you must be patient and not begin to pressurise the management for dividend. You should be ready to wait for three to four years before expecting any dividend. So you must give the management enough time before demanding for dividend.”
Life assurance business, he said is diminishing in the country as majority of insurance companies have  deviated  into general insurance business due to the challenges of the business. To overcome the challenges of the business, he advised new firm to pay claims as and when due. ‘When you do this, you would not need to do advert campaign. The beneficiaries would advertise your company to others’ he said.
FBN Life Assurance is jointly owned by First Bank Nigeria Plc and the Sanlam Group of South Africa.
However, Mr Bisi Onasanya, managing director, First Bank while speaking at the launching ceremony said the insurance subsidiary is the newest strategic business window in First Bank group. The key deliverable of unveiling the company, he said was to combine FirstBank’s strong brand equity with the insurance business’ ability to offer the right product or combination of products to the right customer through the right channel at the right time.
We are proud of our association with the Sanlam Group, one of Africa’s foremost insurance providers, with over nine decades of operation and offices across Africa, Europe, Asia and the United States, he said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Valentine Ojumah, managing director, FBN Life said the company has designed its operations to consistently reflect integrity, innovation, professionalism, respects for individuals and excellent quality.
“At FBN Life, integrity will be our watchword. We will remain reliable and responsible to our customers and stakeholders and as a worthy child of the legendary First Bank Group” he said.
He added that the company was aware of the need to be increasingly innovative in order to meet the needs of its diverse stakeholders. While we appreciate the multiplicity of products in the industry in which we operate, rest assured that our product development and services offerings would resonate timely intervention to optimize risks solutions and dynamic responses to all your insurance needs, he said.