Souvik Banerjea

* History of Continental Re

Incorporated in Nigeria in 1985, Continental Reinsurance started business initially as a private reinsurance company. From January 1987, we began operating as a general reinsurer and in January 1990, we became a composite reinsurer, offering both treaty and facultative life and non-life reinsurance, with a well-diversified business mix and customer base.

As part of our overall goal to become the recognized leading reinsurance company in Africa, we’ve converted to a public limited liability company in 2000. We recapitalized to NGN 10 billion in 2007, with widespread ownership which includes international investors. On May 30, 2007, Continental Reinsurance was listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

In 2019, the Company obtained the approval of its shareholders and the regulators to undertake a Scheme of Arrangement for the purpose of restructuring its business. The objective of restructuring is to enhance the growth of business, reposition the Company to reinforce competition and provide a sustainable increase in profitability. The successful implementation of the Scheme culminated in the 100% acquisition of the shares of the Company by its parent company in Mauritius, CRe African Investment Limited and the delisting of the shares of the Company from the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

We continue to operate as an international company managed by seasoned professionals, complying with international standards in all our business dealings.

* Sharm-Rendezvous is one of the first events to take place after the pandemic, how do you evaluate its happening during this time?

I have been attending Sharm-Rendezvous ever since it started three years ago, and I must say that conferences in Africa generally follow a certain pattern, but Sharm-Rendezvous has always been different, and possibly one of the major reasons for its distinction is that you know what to expect. The place and people are familiar and friendly which creates a sort of constant that makes you feel at ease. Over the last four years, Sharm-Rendezvous has been improving and developing with respect of keeping the basics intact, and that's what makes it great. I come every year and meet my clients and friends from the Egyptian market and I build new relationships as well.

* How do you evaluate the insurance business in Egypt?

I have always been appreciative of the fact that Egypt is one of the most industrialized nations in sub-Saharan Africa, and today, compared to any other country that we serve, Egypt gives us the best quality of risks. In addition, people in Egypt understand insurance and the concept of risk, they rate different risks in different fashion which is what underwriting is about, and that's why Egypt will always do better, since the market has the basics covered.

As for Continental Re in Egypt, our market went up by 70% last year, and during the first half of 2021, our company grew by over a 100%.

* In your point of view, how does the reinsurance sector look like around the world?

We have had some difficult days during the last two years, the hurricane in Florida affected every reinsurer in Africa, as well as the earthquake in Japan. Having said that, we hadn't had destructive natural catastrophes last year, and it's only been Covid-19, so reinsurers have shown good results and a little growth. I guess it's our time to tell the world that insurance is mandatory and that you can actually prevent your losses and save your livelihood through insurance, therefore, the world is ready to hear us now.

* What are Continental Re's latest projects?

When we talk about new products or new developments in the market, we have to mention sustainability. As continental Re, we are signatories to the United Nations principles of sustainable insurance, and part of what we want to achieve is informing the people in the market about it and encouraging them to participate in doing more for our world. In order to help ourselves reach our goals on sustainability, we have adapted various strategies such as partnering with a digital company which can educate insurance companies and through them the farming community about the importance of farming and agriculture in order to improve food security in Africa. We are hoping this will be a game changer in the near future.

We are also in discussions to set up an office specialized in niche products, we already have a strong market in liability insurance which is fairly new to Africa and we hope we can keep introducing new business sectors to the market. Continental Re is one of the fastest growing reinsurers in Africa and we strive to keep leading the way.