DESPITE the financial market crisis and the pervasive credit crunch,  Standard Alliance Insurance Plc has recorded a growth of 19.7 per cent in its Gross Premium Income of N3.782 billion in 2010 as against N3.15 billion recorded in 2009.

Also, despite the challenging business environment, the company recorded a considerable growth in premium earned within the year under review from N2.931 billion in 2009 to N3.51n billion in 2010 representing a growth of 20 per cent, while underwriting profit, which is a measure of the efficiency of a company’s core risk bearing process stood at N1.7554 billion in 2010.

Meanwhile, the company has pledged to tap into various initiatives of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to widen its business scope in coming years through world class and tailor-made products that would suit the purpose of its customers, not unmindful of the six compulsory insurance products of NAICOM’s Market Development and Restructuring Initiatives (MDRI).

This was disclosed by the Chairman, Board of Director, SA Insurance,  Alhaji Aliyu Yahaya Sa’ad while addressing the company’s shareholders at the 15th Annual General Meeting of the company held in its new corporate head office at Lekki in Lagos recently.

Alhaji Sa’ad said while the company continued to pursue its direct marketing strategic initiatives, it would not lose focus on measure that would strengthen its strategic relationship with insurance brokers as well as increase its business patronage, adding that the company, as part of efforts to ensure all round service delivery had upgraded its IT infrastructure.

Also speaking at the meeting, the Managing Director, SA Group, Tom Imokhai noted with dismay that the decrease in investment income was due to instability experienced in the capital market in 2010, lull in real estate market coupled with unattractive return on investment from money market due to significant reduction on interest rate by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Although, Imokhai disclosed that the company was now strategically positioned and participating in some major government account giving rise to shareholders’ hope of better result in subsequent years, adding that the management had reorganised and repositioned its public sector marketing unit to drive insurance business from Local, states, federal government’s parastatals, agencies and ministries.