BusinessDay... the voice of business - Consolidated Hallmark leads consortium on BRT insurance scheme

The scheme provides comprehensive insurance cover for over 100 buses and tri-cycles on the scheme to the tune of 100 percent. Year 2007 award winner conferred by Ota-Agbara Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, as the insurance company of the year, was recently listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange with stock prices presently witnessing a rally on the floor. These are attributes that have continually endeared the new generation company to clients, potential clients and stakeholders alike, the company said.

With a robust balance sheet from the 2007 trading results, shareholders of the company, who have since foreseen a very bright future for the stock in terms of capital appreciation, continue to hold on to their holdings, resulting in scarcity on the floor of the Stock Exchange. Its premium income grew substantially by 185 percent from N508 million in December 2006 to N1.446 billion in December 2007.

The profit after tax of Consolidated Hallmark grew from N57 million in 2006 to N259 million in 2007, representing a growth of about 354 percent. Meanwhile, the company has entered into a strategic alliance with Fidelity Bank Plc to market its automobile insurance products on the Autoreg platform.

Having repackaged its existing products and came out with new ones in the last 10 months to meet the needs of the insuring public, the company will be launching three products soon. The products are Commuters Personal Accident Insurance, Enhanced Motor Policies and Building Insurance Policies. Looking ahead, the company is also planning to grow its core business through product innovation, strategic alliances for marketing as well as strategic investments that would directly impact on its premium income.

Recently, it’s Information and Communications technology was upgraded via the adoption of a new web-based on-line insurance business application package. Operations of the company in the Lagos offices have since been linked online, real time. Operations in Regional Offices of Abuja and Port Harcourt are to be linked very shortly.

Within the first year of consolidation, a strategic branch expansion initiative was embarked upon.

This has led to the opening upgrading of branches in locations like Ilorin, Oshogbo, Akure, Jos, Calabar, and Maiduguri, in an effort geared towards taking insurance services closer to existing and potential clients nationwide. To further strengthen its operations in the long run, the company plans to diversify into ancillary financial services that will support its core business of insurance. Plans are also ahead to expand into other markets in the West African sub region.

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