By Moses Patience Chat
The National Insurance Commission has said that the Nigeriain oil and gas sector has recorded a 36 per cent premium retention ratio in 2022 and ranked as the underwriting sector with the lowest premium retention in the country.
The retention ratio is the percentage of business covered by insurance companies that are not transferred to reinsurance.
NAICOM disclosed this in its ‘Bulletin of the Insurance .arket Performance’, a statistics department quarterly report of the insurance market for fourth quarter, 2022.
According to the Commission’s report, the average premium that the entire insurance companies were able to retain locally stood at 71.3 per cent in the period under review.
“In the non-life segment which also took a similar pattern, motor insurance continued its lead as the highest retaining portfolio with a retention ratio of about 93.5 per cent, also a point higher than its standing in the prior quarter.
“Oil and gas recorded the least at about 35.9 per cent. The oil and gas portfolio lamentably remained a challenging angle in the market owing to its nature of enormous capital and professional requirements.
“Consequently, the retention performance in the current period sustained its prior position when compared to the third quarter as evidenced by the overall non-life business ratio of 55 per cent, slipping from about 56.6 per cent held in the prior period.” the report read in part.