Universal Insurance grows premium to N15.25bn, as profit hits 2.8bnv

The Managing Director/CEO of Universal Insurance Plc, Dr. Jeff Duru has said that the company recorded a Gross Written Premium (GWP) of N15.25 billion in the year ended December 31, 2024.

Dr. Duru said this while speaking at the 2024/2025 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Nigerian Association of Insurance and Pension Editors (NAIPE) in Lagos.

He added that the company posted N8.07 billion Gross Written Premium (GWP) in the first quarter of 2025, indicating 100 percent higher than the target for the quarter.

The Managing Director/CEO said, “Last year, we recorded N15.25 billion in Gross Written Premium (GWP), and profits after tax of N2.8 billion. Our shareholders’ fund as at the first quarter is in the neighbourhood of N16.4 billion when compared to N13.25 billion reported in 2024.

“We are charged to serve the public better to make them have that experience. Our claims payment is top-notch. Our services are top-notch. We are fully computerised.

“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 the industry, give them the peace of mind, give them an excellent customer experience. That is what we are doing.

“As at the first quarter, we have produced N8.07 billion in terms of GWP, and that was about 130 percent of our first quarter target. 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.”

Dr. Duru spoke about the company’s products and initiatives, saying, “Our initiatives and products include Shop in Shop cover. The shop in shop cover was basically designed for shop owners and businessmen that operate businesses at 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 box, or Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven chat box and visual assistant. That is 247 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, and 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 cuts down fraud, manpower, 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”.

Universal insurance PLC is a non life insurance underwriter that has existed for over 60 years, reengineered, regenerated to serve customers better, and it has a recapitalised asset base of over N20 billion.

ALSO READ TOP STORIES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE