The Insurance and Pensions Commission (Ipec) has given FBC Reinsurance the green light to write life and health business and the company is working on resourcing line of business, board chairman David Birch has said.
BY VICTORIA MTOMBA
Speaking at the 20th anniversary cocktail for the company last week Birch said FBC Re applied to Ipec for permission which was granted. The application was made last year.
“We are currently resourcing the company with appropriate skills. Whilst we are cognisant of the fact that life business volumes are low at the moment, we are approaching this initiative from a long term view point, and for those of us who will be around in 20 years, we hope we will be able to tell the same success story about long -term business as is being told about our short-term insurance activities,” he said.
Birch said the company has introduced new products — political violence, terrorism and sabotage cover and cyber risk cover — but the uptake was still low.
“The uptake has been slow but it is expected to gather momentum as appreciation of the implications of these risk exposures is better understood by consumers and in this context the broking fraternity has a significant role to play,” Birch said.
Birch said the company would continue to grow its market share through service innovation.
He said during the 20-year period the company learnt costly lessons such as in 2006 when it was exposed to a loss arising from a massive explosion at the Sonatrach LNG plant in Skikda in Algeria. The gross claim amounted to over $1 billion.
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Birch said after the claim FBC Re contributed its share of the claim and remained poorer but wiser. FBC Reinsurance is a subsidiary of FBC Holdings a concern listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.
FBC Holdings’ other subsidiaries include FBC Bank, FBC Building Society, FBC Securities, Eagle Insurance and Micro plan.
