NSIA Insurance Limited is repositioning itself as a specialist non-life insurer after transferring its life insurance portfolio to CHI Life Assurance Limited, as the company steps up efforts to expand its presence in Nigeria’s general insurance market.
The company announced the strategic shift at its 2026 Annual General Meeting and a subsequent press briefing in Lagos, where its chairman, Adesegun Akin-Olugbade, outlined the insurer’s growth plans and 2025 financial performance.
Akin-Olugbade said the proposed transfer of NSIA’s entire life insurance portfolio to CHI Life Assurance Limited, a subsidiary of Consolidated Hallmark Holdings Plc, had secured approval-in-principle from the National Insurance Commission.
He explained that the transaction would be completed after the remaining legal and regulatory requirements had been fulfilled.
According to him, concentrating exclusively on non-life insurance would allow NSIA to devote more resources to areas where it has established competitive strengths, particularly general business and motor insurance.
The chairman said the decision was deliberate and would enable the company to scale its operations more effectively without the distraction of running both life and non-life businesses.
He added that NSIA’s broader ambition was to build a strong retail presence and become a trusted insurance provider for households across Nigeria.
The strategic realignment comes against the backdrop of substantial claims settlements by the insurer. NSIA paid N18 billion in claims during the 2025 financial year, taking its total claims payments over the past four years to N47.9 billion.
Akin-Olugbade said claims settlement remained central to the company’s customer-focused strategy, particularly in motor insurance, where he said the company had invested in processes designed to speed up assessment and payment.
He maintained that the insurer’s approach was to prioritise customers while maintaining a sustainable and profitable business.
Revenue climbs to N33bn
NSIA’s financial performance also showed continued growth during the year under review, with insurance revenue rising by 18 per cent to N33 billion.
Profit after tax exceeded N2 billion, taking the company’s cumulative PAT between 2021 and 2025 to N9.3 billion.
The insurer’s total assets rose to N53 billion, while shareholders’ funds increased substantially, climbing from N13.6 billion in 2021 to N23.7 billion in 2025, representing a 74.3 per cent increase.
At the AGM, shareholders also approved the capitalisation of N6 billion from retained earnings as part of efforts to strengthen the company’s capital base and align with regulatory requirements.
The move will increase NSIA’s issued share capital from N9 billion to N15 billion through a bonus issue of two new shares for every three shares held.
The capitalisation strengthens the insurer without requiring shareholders to provide additional cash and is intended to support compliance with the recapitalisation requirements introduced under the Insurance Reform Act 2025.
NSIA’s restructuring reflects the wider changes taking place in Nigeria’s insurance sector, with insurers increasingly separating life and non-life operations to improve capital allocation, strengthen solvency and focus resources on specialised business lines.
For NSIA, the company said its next phase would be centred on disciplined underwriting, digital innovation and deeper market penetration as it seeks to strengthen its position in Nigeria’s non-life insurance market over the next five years.
