Continental Reinsurance (Continental Re)

Magazine Issue:

Magazine date:

May 2017

Officially set up in 1985, Continental Re started its operations only in January 1987 as a property damage reinsurer. Only in 1990 did the company extend its activities to include life reinsurance, thus becoming a composite life and non-life reinsurer.

Continental Re

Ever since, the company has been providing services in facultative and conventional reinsurance for all classes of business.

It is from its base in Lagos that Continental Re started its long march toward Africa. Endowed with an authorized capital of 10 million NGN upon its establishment in 1985, the shareholders had to regularly inject funds at times of degraded economic environment in an effort to offset the permanent erosion of the Nigerian currency. Growth financing has required numerous increases of authorized capital. The latter rose to 100 million in 1992, then to 200 million in 1997, to 1 billion in 2003, to 2 billion in 2005, to 7.5 billion in 2006 and to 12.5 billion in 2013, an amount still in force by the end of 2015.

Endowed with the required capital, Continental Re has embarked on a networking endeavour of the African continent. The first regional office was set up in Douala in 2004, followed by another one in Nairobi in 2008 (regional office that was later turned into a subsidiary in 2012), Abidjan in 2008 (regional office), Tunis in April 2014 (regional office), Gaborone in 2014 (reinsurance subsidiary) and Johannesburg (specialized reinsurance subsidiary).

The strategy developed has paid off, with the turnover taking an upward trend. Indeed, from 14.9 million USD in 2005, premiums attained 100 million USD ten years later. These statistics made of Continental Re a major West African reinsurer with a local Nigerian market poised to become a pillar of African insurance.


Nadia Alaoui Fettah	Olufemi Oyetunji
Chairman of the board of directors	CEO

Continetal Re in 2015

An authorized share capital	63 362 000 USD
A paid up share capital	26 290 000 USD
Turnover	100 052 000 USD
Assets	150 391 000 USD
Shareholder’s equity	78 758 000 USD
Net result	10 862 000 USD
Non life gross loss ratio	41.6%
Non life expenses ratio	46.5%
Non life combined ratio	88.1%
Regional offices	3 (Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Tunisia)
subsidiaries	3 (South Africa, Botswana, Kenya)
Number of employees	74

Main shareholders as at 31.12.2015

C-Re Holding Ltd	56.57%
Others	44.43%

Board of directors and management

Chairman of the board of directors	Nadia Alaoui Fettah
CEO	Olufemi Oyetunji
General manager, finance	Musa Kolo
Deputy general manager, administration and human resources	Olusegun Ajibewa
Group executive director, operations	Lawrence Nazare
Chief risk officer	Abayomi Oluremi-Judah
Deputy general manager, IT	Kanma Okafor
General manager for Anglophone West Africa	Shola Ajibade
Deputy general manager, technical training & quality assurance	Steve Odjugo

Main technical highlights of Continental Re: 2011-2015

in thousands USD

	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Gross written premiums	73 039	79 419	99 403	90 813	100 052
Non life gross written premiums	59 478	63 365	81 911	79 355	85 594
Written premiums net of reinsurance	63 034	66 571	83 683	78 425	92 232
Gross earned premiums	71 156	76 527	94 249	89 249	104 826
-Non life gross earned premiums	58 855	60 533	76 722	78 184	91 404
-Life gross earned premiums	12 301	15 994	17 527	11 065	13 422
Gross incurred losses	27 995	32 051	39 967	40 717	45 724
-Non life gross incurred losses	22 849	25 202	32 185	32 639	38 010
- Life benefits	5 146	6 849	7 782	8 078	7 714
Management expenses	29 109	32 378	40 496	37 353	44 198
-Non life management expenses	24 068	26 514	33 433	33 271	39 797
Non life gross loss ratio	38.8%	41.6%	41.9%	41.7%	41.6%
Non life expenses ratio⁽¹⁾	40.5%	41.8%	40.8%	41.9%	46.5%
Non life combined ratio	79.3%	83.4%	82.7%	83.6%	88.1%
Net result	9 046	10 420	10 990	4 727	10 862

⁽¹⁾ non life expenses ratio = non life management expenses / non life gross written premiums

Continental Re: evolution of premiums, losses and results (2011-2015)

In thousands USD continental re technical indicators

Continental Re: evolution of non life ratios (2011-2015)

continental re non life ratios

Breakdown of turnover per class of business of Continental Re (2011-2015)

in thousands USD

	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2015 shares
Fire	28 287	25 480	35 030	33 102	46 116	46.1%
Accident	10 133	14 747	18 061	17 582	14 338	14.3%
Marine	7 475	5 618	7 992	8 854	8 578	8.6%
Third party liability	4 998	5 272	6 825	7 734	5 414	5.4%
Energy	8 585	12 247	14 427	11 685	11 148	11.1%
Total non life	59 478	63 364	82 335	78 957	85 594	85.5%
Ordinary life insurance	530	1 549	410	1 572	1 100	1.1%
Group life insurance	13 031	14 506	16 658	10 284	13 358	13.4%
Total life	13 561	16 055	17 068	11 856	14 458	14.5%
Grand total	73 039	79 419	99 403	90 813	100 052	100%

Continental Re: breakdown of turnover per class of business in 2015

continental re insurance-turnover- life

⁽¹⁾ including ordinary and group life insurance

Continental Re: breakdown of turnover per underwriting unit (2011-2015)

in thousands USD

	2011	%	2012	%	2013	%	2014	%	2015	%
Nigeria	50 377	69%	58 362	73.5%	65 824	66.2%	57 646	63.5%	58 131	58.1%
Cameroon ⁽¹⁾	11 504	15.7%	10 528	13.2%	6 102	6.2%	7 515	8.3%	7 744	7.7%
Kenya ⁽²⁾	11 158	15.3%	10 529	13,3%	16 129	16.2%	13 192	14,5%	14 784	14.8%
Côte d’Ivoire ⁽¹⁾	-	-	-	-	11 348	11.4%	6 072	6.7%	7 293	7.3%
Botswana ⁽²⁾	-	-	-	-	-	-	3 595	3.9%	7 377	7.4%
Tunisia ⁽¹⁾	-	-	-	-	-	-	2 793	3.1%	4 723	4.7%
Grand total	73 039	100%	79 419	100%	99 403	100%	90 813	100%	100 052	100%

⁽¹⁾ regional office
⁽²⁾ reinsurance subsidiary

continental re turnover 2015 underwriting unit

Continental Re: main indicators per underwriting unit in 2015

in thousands USD

	Nigeria	Cameroon ⁽¹⁾	Kenya ⁽²⁾	Côte d’Ivoire⁽¹⁾	Botswana ⁽²⁾	Tunisia ⁽¹⁾	Total
Gross written premiums	58 131	7 744	14 784	7 293	7 377	4 723	100 052
Gross earned premiums	61 668	8 080	15 262	7 231	7 988	4 597	104 826
Gross incurred losses	28 981	2 892	7 832	2 868	2 170	981	45 724
Management expenses	26 974	3 835	5 752	3 353	2 989	2 427	44 198 ⁽³⁾
Loss ratio⁽⁴⁾	47%	35.8%	51.3%	39.7%	27.2%	21.3%	43.6%
Expenses ratio⁽⁴⁾	46.4%	49.5%	38.9%	46%	40.5%	51.4%	44.2%
Combined ratio⁽⁴⁾	93.4%	85.3%	90.2%	85.7%	67.7%	72.7%	87.8%
Net result	4 486	1 084	1 279	943	1 061	877	10 862 ⁽³⁾

⁽¹⁾ regional office
⁽²⁾ reinsurance subsidiary
⁽³⁾ including elimination of 1 132 thousand USD
⁽⁴⁾ including life and non life premiums

Continental Re: premiums, losses and results per underwriting zone in 2015

continental re insurance-indicators underwriting unit

Source: The different balance sheets of «Continental Re»

Exchange NGN/USD as at 31/12	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Exchange NGN/USD as at 31/12	0.006271	0.006406	0.006268	0.005525	0.005069

Continental Re

Head office	St. Nicholas House, 8th Floor, 6 Catholic Mission Street, P.O. Box 2401, Lagos, Nigeria
Tel	+234 1 4622779 / 8732624
E-mail	info [at] continental-re [dot] com [4]
Website	www.continental-re.com [5]