This document is the July-September 2016 edition of the Mixer newsletter for NSIA Insurance. The editor's note discusses the economic challenges facing businesses in recent years and hopes for improvement. It also encourages gratitude. The lineup section previews several articles and sections in the newsletter, including developing a robust risk appetite statement, an overview of the agency distribution channel, a section on right or wrong perspectives, a social corner covering events, and a staff birthdays section. It encourages readers to provide feedback on topics for future editions and to enjoy this issue.

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The MixerNewsletter Vol. 3 July-September 2016

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Editor’s Note
2016 has been a pivotal year for all of us. Over the last two quarters we have witnessed
the impact of social, political and economic changes in the Country and how these have
crippled many businesses. The insurance industry is not immune to the effect of all these
changes. The insurance business landscape is undergoing a rapid and unprecedented
evolution which makes sustainable profitability a huge challenge.
Sadly, this abysmal economic reality is what we have to live with and we cannot but hope that as
we move ahead in the months to come, the economic situation of the country will improve.
Amidst all this economic turbulence, we still have a reason to be thankful. As rightly said by a
pundit during our thanksgiving event; “count your blessing and you will be surprised how far God
has taken you”. We will continue to be grateful to God for his unending mercies upon our lives
and that of the company.
Every business quarter is loaded with exciting adventure, yet sometimes because of our busy
schedule we forget some of the exciting events that occurred along the way. We believe there is
value in our different experiences. The MIXER (NSIA’s Insurance Newsletter) provides a haven
where our unique moments, shared events, triumphs, challenges and experiences can be
savored.
On this note we say Welcome to the second edition of the MIXER, a newsletter for our clients
and staff alike. This edition offers readers with thought provoking articles on a wide range of
topics starting off with:
 Developing a robust risk appetite statement
 Agency distribution channel - An overview
 Right or wrong!!
Other highlight of this edition is the social corner which covers the under-listed events
 We find you exciting!
 Photo Album
 Staff birthdays
 Etc.
We want to hear from you…
What features or topics would you like to see covered in future
editions
Ask us! Please send us your questions and we will publish the
questions and answers for everyone’s benefit
Enjoy this edition! Thanks to all contributors
Fade

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LINEUP
Pages
Editor’s Note 2
Developing a robust risk appetite statement 4
Agency distribution channel an overview 8
Right or wrong 11
We find you exciting!!! 12
NSIA’S photo album 14
Staff Birthdays 15

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“
Developing a Robust
Risk Appetite Statement
Without a well-
crafted risk appetite
statement, there
will be an
insufficient basis
for managing risk
”
A clearly articulated risk appetite statement is a critical prerequisite for
implementing an effective enterprise risk management process. This represents a
relatively new area of practice as evidenced by the large number of organizations
that have yet to develop a formal risk appetite statement, and by the lack of any
clearly established best practice standard among those that have.
The risk appetite statement should include a set of core principles that reflect the
organization’s enterprise risk management objectives and risk taking philosophy. An
organization’s risk appetite defines the type and amount of risk it is willing to take on
in pursuit of its vision, mission and objectives. This suggests the following examples
of principles that might be covered in drafting a formal risk appetite statement:
Strategic Alignment
Every organization generally needs to take on and successfully manage risk in
order to achieve its strategic goals. The risk appetite statement should highlight this
linkage and identify those risks it deems to be core (intimately linked to customer
value proposition, business strategy and return prospects), non-core (not aligned
with principal strategy and, hence, little or no risk appetite reserved) or collateral
(incurred as a necessary by-product of assuming core risks and, hence, not directly
pursued and ideally mitigated to the extent that the level of residual risk is balanced
with the cost of control).
Stakeholder Interests
The risk appetite statement needs to appropriately balance the various needs,
expectations, risk/reward preferences, investment horizons, etc. of a wide range of
internal and external stakeholders. In particular, for publicly listed insurance
companies, the risk appetite should support the pursuit of shareholders value while
ensuring that the company’s ability to pay claims and fulfil long-term policyholder
commitments is not compromised. The risk appetite should also support the
maintenance of target credit and financial strength ratings, and on-going favourable
access to capital markets.

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Alignment with Corporate Values and Culture
An organization’s risk appetite should appropriately reflect its core values.
The formal risk appetite statement provides an ideal platform for senior
leadership to articulate its corporate values and attitudes to risk, and to
set a clear “tone from the top” with regard to risks and brand value.
Risk Management Capacity and Capability
The risk appetite should be explicitly calibrated to the financial risk taking
capacity (current as well as reasonably obtainable) as well as the organization’s
specific risk management capabilities. It should actively seek out risk taking
opportunities where these capabilities can be effectively leveraged and, conversely,
avoid those areas where it does not have the requisite risk management skills
or available financial capacity. The CRO should be prepared to assume the role
of Chief “Reality” Officer in order to ensure that the risk appetite statement appropriately
reflects this important principle.
Total Portfolio Perspective
Adopting an enterprise risk management framework requires that risks and opportunities are not just considered based on their
intrinsic merits, but also based on their marginal contribution to the organization’s aggregate risk position. In particular, the risk
appetite should explicitly provide for the recognition and management of diversification and concentration effects across the enterprise
risk portfolio.
Returns Commensurate with Risks
An organization must establish a risk appetite that is commensurate with its target return expectations. The risk appetite statement
should facilitate the effective iteration and ultimate reconciliation between these two fundamental elements. This is particularly true of
insurance entities where, by definition, risk management is very much at the core of their customer value proposition. This generally
requires that the risk appetite framework should incorporate some form of risk budgeting process whereby risk capacity and capital
can be allocated, on a total portfolio basis, across opportunities that collectively optimize the organization’s overall risk adjusted
returns.
Tips for Successful Implementation
• Make sure your risk appetite statement reflects the “tone at the top”. Modern enterprise risk management starts with
company risk culture that is established by the Board and executed by senior management.
• Buy-in will need to be achieved at all levels within the organization. People will need to understand and believe in the merits
of the risk appetite that has been set at the top.
• Be sure to capture all key risks, desired and undesired, including risks that are chosen to achieve business objectives
through risk/reward and risks that are inherent to business activities.
• Monitoring and reporting mechanisms must be in place in order to ensure daily business activities are reflective of the
adopted appetite. The best risk appetite statement does nothing if it is simply filed away and forgotten
Conclusion
A well-crafted risk appetite statement can be an invaluable tool for helping organizations navigate through the myriad of issues and
opportunities characterized by today’s challenging business environment. Accordingly, without a risk appetite statement, there will be
an insufficient basis for managing risk. Developing a risk appetite statement, although straightforward in concept, requires significant
knowledge of the business and specific expertise in the disciplines of risk management. The big question is- Do I use NSIA’s risk
appetite statement as a guide in making decisions?

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Agency Distribution
Channel-an overview
“I am prepared for the worst, but
hope for the best.” ~ Benjamin
Disraeli
Insurance helps us to do exactly what
this quote suggests. We all face many
kinds of risks: risk of meeting with an
accident, falling sick, being a victim of a
natural disaster or fire, and above all risk
of life. All these risks not only come with
pain and suffering but also hurt
financially. Insurance is one way of
being prepared for the worst; it offers the
surety that the economic part of the pain
will be taken care of. In this article, we
take a look at Agency Distribution
channel in NSIA and the Insurance
industry at large.
The word Agency stands for an
establishment or person engaged in doing
business for another. We can see different
forms of agency across the society. In
Insurance, the term agency refers to a
long standing business model which exists
ever since insurance became an
organized sector.
Nigeria presents long-term growth
opportunities for insurance agency, with
current insurance penetration of less than
1%. Given a population of 174 million, this
presents a long-term strategic opportunity
for insurance service providers to add
value to the lives of customers and also
enhance shareholders value.
There are different types of insurance
agencies like Tied Agency, Corporate
Agency etc. A tied agency is one which
where an individual act on behalf of
insurance firm, where as in corporate
agency it is an entity which act as the
agent. In a tied agency, agents are
allowed to sell only one insurers product
where as a corporate agency is allowed to
sell products of multiple insurers.
An Agent is remunerated through
commission, which is based on the
Premium collected. The usual Practice is
to give higher percentage in first year and
a trailing commission the following years.
Insurance agency provides an Insurer with
broad spectrum of avenues to market its
products and services. Since Insurance is
all about a promise, a human touch adds
value to the customer. One of the primary
features of Agency is people to people
contact and networking. Thus it provides the
insurer with access to many markets that
has its unique needs and buying cycles.
With proper servicing and relation building
an agent can repeatedly tap into same
customer, which gives agency its
uniqueness of repeat business from
customers.
On Customer side, Customer gets an
opportunity to discuss in detail about his
needs, dreams and aspiration which an
agent would relate better because of his
personal knowledge about the customer. An
agent provides his personalised touch and
expertise in dealing with the customers. He
gathers information about the needs of his
customer by asking the right questions,
listening to customers’ needs carefully and
then making his recommendation. Once the
customer agrees to implement the

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recommendations, the agent take the
responsibility to ensure that plan devised
to meet his long term needs are on track
and protection is continued throughout as
per customer requirement.
Challenges faced by the Agency
 Variable Remuneration: Agents in
most insurance firms across the world
are paid only in commission and do not
have a fixed component.
 Retention of Agents: majority of the
agents can be classified as part time
agents, as they double up in some
other vocation in addition to Insurance.
This reduces the commitment level of
the agents. Under these circumstances
retention of agents becomes one of the
major challenges of the organisation.
 Skill Levels: Since agents are
constituted from various walks of life,
the skill levels are observed to be
varied, in line with the diversity of the
agency.
Ways to Overcome the Challenge
Methods used to counter these
challenges are varied from market to
market. Most commonly observed
means are by developing a career
progression for agents, training and
coaching go a long way in building the
skill set of the agents, making them
more confident in their area of work.
Another important measure that keeps
these challenges away is different kind
of programs and avenues to recognise
the good performance of agents.
These could include right from a
certificate signed by a dignitary, gifts,
and trips.
Leading insurance companies in
the world
There are many criteria on the basis of
which such a list can be prepared:
premium collections, market
capitalization, revenue, profit,
geographical coverage, asset based
and many more.
The list below shows the Top 10
Insurers in the world by revenues.
(Source: Insurance Information Institute.
Data as of 31st March 2015)
Name Ranking
Berkshire Hathaway
(US)
1
Axa (France) 2
Allianz Se Germany 3
Japan Post Holding Co.
Ltd.
4
Assicurazioni General
(Italy)
5
Prudential Plc (UK) 6
China Life Insurance 7
Ping An Insurance
(China)
8
Legal and General group
(UK)
9
Munich Re (Germany) 10
The top Insurance companies world over
have agency as one of their pillars of their
business model. It is very cost effective
and gives a great spread to the
organisation and helps to reach the target
segment of the population. A highly
trained and motivated agency force will be
a game changer for any insurance
company. In the years to come, insurance
industry in Nigeria will witness emergence
of a strong and vibrant agency distribution
channel contributing notable revenue to
the industry.
We, at NSIA are venturing into agency
distribution this year and we have our
agency office at Ikeja, Lagos to kick start
the operation. With this new channel,
NSIA will have more foot soldiers in the
field creating brand awareness, catering
to the needs of different segments of the
market and generating more revenue to
the organization. We will give more thrust
towards a trained sales force that will be
able to do the right financial planning for
customers.
Given the continuously growing
population with more disposable income
and continuous management support, the
agency distribution channel will become
an important line of distribution for NSIA.
By: Damodaran Harish
(Retail Development manager)

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In RELIGION, Christians got Christ, Muslims got Mohammed and other
religions has got their various own medium to GOD. Each claims hers to be
the only true path. Who holds the LIGHT of truth?
In POLITICS, Party A promised to stabilize our liberation from the Military but
eventually confined us to the insatiability nature of the unfair economic divide.
They went through an internal CHANGE of name and evolved as Party B
promising us of a liberation from Party A as an emancipation from self-inflicted
decadence through the acclaimed CORRUPT-free quest invariably delivering
us into the hands of the old dictatorship we applauded Party A of liberating. If
corruption grows old is it more corrupt or less? Is this CHANGE or are we
blindly awake?
In THE ECONOMY, The rich keeps getting richer and the poor keeps getting
screwed, the middle class slowly disintegrating into the lower class and only a
few percentage ascending with ceaseless struggle to the higher class
reforming our strata into a two-level rich and poor class showing the
inevitability of the erosion that would break the whole system down to the
extent that the poor would be so hungry that they wouldn’t have any other
thing to eat but the rich. Can you taste the BLOOD?
In INSURANCE, it’s unethical to give ORC but if you don’t give it, you don’t get
business and if you don’t have business you don’t have the bragging right to
contest in the industry. Would you rather sink or sail?
In MAN, there is a constant struggle of two lions in him, the GOOD and BAD
lion. Who decides which wins? The one you feed the most I guess?
It all boils down to one thing. In Life there are always two perspectives,
Positive or negative, quiet or aggressive, older or younger, cool or hot
tempered, beauty or beast, slay or nay, hustle or lazy, smile or frown, tell-
up or shut-up, belong or be-alone, now or then, hate or love, live or die,
heaven or hell, write or wrong? Who can truly tell?
One thing I can tell you: in all your choices, always find time to Read and
Travel, Tu Comprends?
By: Ikenna Onuoha
(Corporate Marketing)
Right or wrong??

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WE FIND YOU EXCITING!!!
Q: What’s your story Bernadette?
Answer: I’m Bernadette. The name
means “to be bold as a dear!” I am
proudly Leo, born 30th
July. I’m the
second child of my mother, the third of
my father. Growing up was beautiful,
you can refer to me as a “good in transit”
(I was moving around a lot) … LOL. I
learnt a lot growing up with different
people which explains my ability to fit
into any group and get along with a lot of
people. From a very young age, I have
learnt the value of financial
independence, hard work and
industriousness.
The last five years of my work life has
been full of ups and downs. It has
presented me with an opportunity to
laugh and reflect, meet people and as
well part with them but most importantly,
I have grown (certainly not my height) as
a result of my experiences. Spiritually,
mentally and intellectually. NSIA to me is
my family.
One of the best things that can happen
to anyone is to have a vision, an
environment in which it can be nurtured
and an individual who believes strongly
in you. I have dedicated my life to
uplifting and empowering individuals but
most importantly to give others the belief
to tenaciously chase their dreams. We
all have a lot to offer the world!!
Q: How long have you been at
NSIA insurance?
A: 4 years post NYSC!
Q: Tell us about one of your
proudest moments at work
A: My first promotion!! For me it was a
reward for hard work and dedication,
and it encouraged me to do better than I
am currently doing. As a person with a
need for achievement, it meant a lot to
my career.
Q: How do you recharge?
A: By exercising!! Yoga to be specific!
Q: What’s the most important
lesson you’ve learnt in the last
years?
A: The most important lesson I have
learnt over the years is that “when life
throw stones at you, you can decide to
let them hit you or build a bridge with the
stones”
Q: How do you act when you are
stressed out?
A: In the past I used to overreact but I
realized it’s not the best to do, so now I
just take a walk while counting 1-50, LOL
and keep mute while speaking to the
inner person to “farabale” afterwards…!!
Q: How do you act under
pressure?
A: -" Rather than overreact and create a
scene ....I prefer to leave the scene.
Q: If you were to start a company
from scratch, what values would
you build it on?
A: Integrity and Zeal!!!
Q: What is the toughest thing
you’ve had to do professionally?
A: I faked a tear to get a business from a
client…LOL. And it worked…
Q: If you could choose 1 amenity to add
to the workplace, what would it be?
A: A gym
Q: What would you be doing if you
weren’t at your current job?
A: Acting or OAP (On Air Personality)
OPTIONAL
Q: What’s your superpower?
A: Hyperactivity, (Too much adrenaline
must have been deposited by God from
creation) LOL
Q: If you were a Game of Thrones
character, who would you like to be and
why?
A: Arya stark, she is very tenacious.
Q: Which of your 5 senses is the
strongest? How about the weakest
A: Smell and weakest- Hearing as I think a
parrot resides inside of me (roll eyes)

15. Staff
Birthdays
July August
Bolanle Shobanke, Vivian Madu 1 Clara Ezurike, Igho Okechukwu, Adedamola Adeoba 2
Frances Nwogbe, Odochi Francis, Ronke Oyetoyan 2 Olayinka Ebenezer, Temitayo Somoye 6
Emeka Onwuchuruba 3 Mayowa Akinkuotu 7
Ijeoma Igiri 4 Ajibola Ogundele 8
Linda Ikoku, Sunmisola Akerele 11 Yetunde Fagbohunka 16
Akinola Oluwole, Funmilayo Wright 12 David Nwachukwu 15
Chuks Ukperi 20 Sogunle Jelili 21
Samuel Ehirim 25 Njideka Okoli 22
Nojeem Orekan 29 Roberts Akinya 26
Souza Bernadette 30 Chinyere Akachukwu 4
Anozie Chiagozie B. 30
September September
Banjo Olusola 1 Ojukemi Olumide, Stella Eziefule 8
Ifeoma Okoli, Udo Okeke 17 Samkoko George, Ronke Adekunle 21
Yusuf Omotayo 26 Joy Nwachukwu 27