Board Members of Real Insurance Company
Mr Ndung’u, the Managing Director and your Management Team
Distinguished guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

Good evening

It is a great honour for me to be with you tonight on this auspicious occasion which is important to the insurance industry as well as to policyholders and the general public.  Let me say that this occasion marks the beginning of a new era in service delivery by the REAL Insurance Company of Malawi.

Allow me to congratulate the Board, Management and staff of REAL Insurance Company Limited on the re-launch of the new name and brand here in Lilongwe. This entails that REAL insurance has the interest of all policy holders at heart. I also want to emphasise that in this day and age, where technology is on the fast lane, it is absolutely necessary to constantly review and refocus one’s strategies and objectives in order to keep afloat.  
Ladies and Gentlemen, I have no doubt in my mind that REAL Insurance Company of Malawi Ltd will succeed in achieving its objectives following this change of name and rebranding. My confidence of the success of Royal Insurance Company of Malawi Ltd is against the record they have established as one of the country’s leading and reliable insurers over the years. Since the MD has mentioned that the corporate structures will remain intact, it is sensible to believe that REAL Insurance will assume a very solid foundation in terms of its operations and corporate culture.

On our part as Registrar of Insurance, we will enhance our efforts to provide a conducive environment for both insurers and policyholders. It is for the stated reason that we have since 1st January 2008 introduced the new capital adequacy and solvency directive for general insurers. Currently, we are working on a similar directive for life insurers and reinsurers which we will be circulating in due course.  

Ladies and Gentlemen, my speech this evening will not be complete if I do not mention the importance of having insurers with sufficient capital. We know that apart from the usual funding of operations, an insurer’s capital is intended to play a vital role of absorbing losses that the insurer may incur in the course of operation. I am sure we all know that the business of insurance is about assuming risks and that in this kind of business, uncertainty is a major factor hence for this reason, it is not possible for insurers to establish with certainty, the extent and magnitude of the risks that have been underwritten. The insurer can at best make estimations based on some methodologies.  In order to ensure that the interest of policyholders and that of the public in general is safeguarded, our office embarked on an exercise aimed at strengthening the capital adequacy and solvency positions of insurers plying their trade in the Malawi market. The objective is simply to ensure that every insurer has extra cushion over and above the estimated liabilities.

Ladies and Gentlemen, you may wish to know that the new Capital Adequacy and Solvency Directive, is based on internationally recognized capital and solvency standards, Malawi being part of the global village.

Our efforts to ensure that our insurance companies are adequately capitalised will go a long way in fostering the confidence of the general public in our insurance industry which is key for the development and overall growth of the industry.    

On this note, let me commend the shareholders of Real Insurance (Malawi) for increasing both authorised and paid-up capital from K20.0 million to K100.0 million and K50.0 million respectively by end of December 2007. I am pleased by your bold efforts to adequately capitalize REAL Insurance (Malawi). I would like to encourage other insurers to emulate this positive initiative to boost their capital levels as well. Significant increase in capital and reserves in the industry would surely go a long way to enhance the local underwriting capacity and reduce the massive outflow of foreign currency in form of reinsurance cessions.

Ladies and Gentlemen, let me take this opportunity to urge insurers to always have the policyholder’s interests in mind when carrying out their duties. As regulators, we are trying, in consultation with the industry, to come up with directives and guidelines on various aspects of insurance operations in order to level the playing field, give clear expectations and ensure that everyone is playing by the book. I believe it is in the interest of all of us here to have a stable, fair, safe and efficient insurance market. Let us therefore work towards ensuring this objective.
   
Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to thank the MD for inviting me to grace this important function of re-launching the name, identity and brand for the benefit of policyholders and prospective customers in the Central region. I believe this gesture shall be extended to customers in the Northern region.

With these remarks, Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you all for your time and attention.

May God bless you all.