E-Financial
Airtel Insurance: When Reliable Service Meets Need of Customers
Despite the huge benefits that come with insurance, it is a fact that many Nigerians particularly the middle and low-income class do not easily subscribe to it.
Excuses abound when people are asked why they have little or no interest in insurance. Their excuses stem from some the negative impression they have about insurance companies.
While some believe that claims do not get paid on time, others blame it on unaffordability of policies.
No wonder that Nigeria presently has a low insurance penetration. In a special report titled, “Africa Market Review: Gearing up for Sustained Growth”, A.M. Best, the world’s oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source, comparing Nigeria’s insurance penetration to countries like Kenya and Morocco (with levels of 3.2 per cent and 2.9 per cent respectively) explains that, with a population of 174million people, Nigeria is still underinsured.
While reviewing Nigeria’s insurance economy at the last annual seminar of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), the president, Mr. Bola Temowo in a press statement issued in Benin, stated that: “86.6 million Nigerians have no form of insurance while 1.3 million adults, representing 1.5 per cent of the entire Nigerian adult population, maintain some category of formal insurance cover.”
However, with the introduction of Airtel Insurance, an innovative package which offers free life and hospital insurance to Airtel subscribers, Nigerians may begin to view insurance from a positive perspective and the apathy could be on a gradual decline to eventually boost insurance culture among Nigerians.
Airtel Insurance was launched last year August by the leading telecoms services provider, Airtel Nigeria in collaboration with Cornerstone Insurance Plc. and MicroEnsure.
It was launched to give a sizeable and strategic segment of the Nigeria population access to life and hospital insurance policies.
The policy offers middle and low-income earners the opportunity and access to life and hospital insurance with increasing benefits based on monthly airtime recharge.
The Airtel Insurance policy is accessible to its subscribers across the country between the ages of 18 – 65 years old. The scheme is endorsed by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).
Since its launch, customers of Airtel Nigeria from all walks of life have benefitted from Airtel Insurance especially as the registration process is made convenient through the subscriber’s phone. Beneficiaries commended the Telco for the initiating Airtel Insurance to ease the complications they unexpectedly encountered.
Early this year, Iyabo Sunmola, a fashion designer in Lagos emerged one of the beneficiaries of Airtel Insurance. She received a cheque of N10, 000 to offset her medical bills after she delivered her baby on 7th January this year.
She was presented her cheque at the Airtel showroom at Oba Akran Ikeja, Lagos. Iyabo, excited to have emerged one of the many beneficiaries of the scheme, explained that she first learnt about the policy through a notification message on her phone.
Also recently, Mr. Omotayo Balogun, a transporter with a haulage company, registered through the USSD and forgot about it until he realised he could use the insurance policy.
“Airtel is worthy of commendation,” he said, for caring for its subscribers beyond the services it offers.
Between October and December last year, many Airtel customers also received hospital cash through Airtel Insurance.
Mr. Augustine Peters, a final year Business Administration (DLI) student in University of Lagos; Mr. Adeniji Owolabi, a self-employed Aluminium structural engineer and Mr. Ojo Aderogba, a stockbroker, received their cheques of N50, 000, and N25, 000 and N25, 000 respectively at the headquarters of Airtel Nigeria, Banana Island, Ikoyi, on Thursday 30th October 2014 to receive their claims. A police man also emerged a beneficiary.
Chief Commercial Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Maurice Newa, explained that the service showed the telecom’s continued commitment towards making lives better for Nigerians. “This further corroborates Airtel’s commitment to creating a robust platform that helps customers accomplish their professional and personal success and goals in life,” he said.
Registration and Payment Made Easy
To subscribe for the free service, customers are expected to register by dialling a code, and then reply the confirmation message with the intended customer’s name, as requested.
Then subscribers are expected to recharge their Airtel line with a minimum of 1000 naira or, 5000 or 10, 000 naira units before the last day of each month to get an insurance cover for the next month.
The amount recharged each month determines the life cover for the next month.
Airtel Insurance makes it easy for prompt payment of claims when the need arises. Customers can lay claim to their policy by dialling Airtel customer service on 121 for the documents needed and where to submit them. Payment for claims is made within 72 hours after the required valid claim documents are received.
Cornerstone Insurance and MicroEnsure noted their delight in partnering with the world-loved telecoms brand. Mr. Ganiyu Musa, group managing director of Cornerstone Insurance Plc, said: “That we are grossly under-insured as a nation is very well documented; we are glad to be able to provide a platform for millions of financially excluded Nigerians to enjoy the benefits and peace of mind of insurance – for free.”
In the same vein, Mr. Peter Gross, regional director for MicroEnsure Africa said, “MicroEnsure is proud to be leading the world as a mobile insurance provider, and this launch in Nigeria marks a milestone in free mobile insurance offerings.”
He expressed that, “This combination of insurance products, all offered for free, is unprecedented in the industry here, and we take pride in introducing a cutting-edge micro-insurance product here in Nigeria.”
MicroEnsure is one of the fastest-growing insurance organisations in Africa, presently with 11million customers, 6 million in Africa and with 85% never insured before.
It presently offers mobile insurance for Life, Accident and Hospital through technical service provider to telecom in countries like Tanzanzia, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, Malawi, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Pakistan.
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E-Financial
NIBBS: Banks Close 29.4m Accounts, Dormant Accounts Hit 33.39m

Banks in Nigeria closed 29.4 million accounts as of March 2025, according to the latest report by the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS).
The figure represents a sharp year-on-year increase of 30.43 per cent from the 22.54 million closed accounts recorded in March 2024.
It also reflects a steady rise in account closures over recent months, with 33.29 million closed accounts reported in February 2025 and 29.43 million in January.
The report also revealed a significant increase in dormant accounts, which surged to 33.39 million in March 2025, up from 19.79 million in the same period in 2024, a 71.3 per cent rise in inactive accounts over the past year.
Despite the spike in closures and dormant accounts, the number of active bank accounts rose from 219.64 million in March 2024 to 320.05 million in March 2025, representing an increase of over 100 million, or 45.7 per cent.
NIBSS defines a dormant account as one that has seen no deposit, withdrawal, transfer, or point-of-sale transaction for a period of six months.
The surge in account closures and dormancy follows the Central Bank of Nigeria’s directive issued in December 2023, mandating commercial banks to restrict Tier-1 accounts not linked to a Bank Verification Number (BVN) and National Identification Number (NIN) by March 1, 2024.
In response to the directive, BVN enrolment increased from 61.6 million in April 2024 to 66.23 million by July 2025, as more Nigerians rushed to meet the CBN’s compliance deadline.
E-Financial
Cardoso, CBN Boss Risks Arrest over Alleged N5.2 Trillion Unremitted Funds

The Joint Committee of the House of Representatives on Public Accounts and Public Assets has threatened to issue a warrant of arrest against Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), over repeated failure to honour its invitations regarding the probe into non-compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 and Finance Act 2020.

Olayemi Cardoso,, Gov, CBN
In a joint statement released on Friday and signed by Hon. Bamidele Salam and Hon. Ademorin Kuye, chairmen of the committees, the lawmakers decried the CBN governor’s continued disregard for legislative summons.
The committee is investigating the non-remittance of operating surplus as well as the mismanagement of unclaimed dividends and dormant account balances.
According to the committee, the Office of the Auditor General for the Federation reported a liability of N5.2 trillion in unremitted operating surplus due to the federal government from 2016 to 2022; a claim corroborated by the Fiscal Responsibility Commission in a separate submission to the National Assembly.
The committee cited provisions of the Finance Act 2020, which mandate that unclaimed dividends from publicly listed companies and dormant bank account balances older than six years be transferred into the Unclaimed Fund Trust Fund. The fund is to be managed by a Governing Council led by the Minister of Finance and the Debt Management Office (DMO).
Contrary to this, the CBN maintains that the Financial Institutions Act 2020 empowers it to manage dormant balances.
However, the committee noted that the Attorney General of the Federation has issued a legal opinion affirming that the Finance Act 2020 remains the valid law guiding the management of such funds.
Following extensive submissions, the committee resolved that the CBN must remit N3.64 trillion, representing 70% of the undisputed N5.2 trillion operating surplus, within 14 days from receipt of its June 27, 2025, directive, pending final reconciliation of the disputed amount.
Additionally, the apex bank was directed to submit a detailed report on the total sum of unclaimed dividends and dormant account balances by June 30, 2025.
The CBN was also ordered to transfer these funds into the Unclaimed Fund Trust Fund within 14 days and furnish the House with evidence of the transaction.
The lawmakers expressed frustration that, despite the clear directives and ample time, the CBN governor has failed to respond or appear before the joint committee to provide an explanation.
“In view of this continued defiance, the Committee will be compelled to exercise its constitutional powers to compel Mr. Olayemi Cardoso to appear before it,” the statement warned.
E-Financial
Moody’s Upgrades Ecobank’s Outlook to Stable

Moody’s has upgraded the outlook on Ecobank Transnational Incorporated’s long-term issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings to stable from negative.
In the latest rating commentary, made available to media on Thursday, Moody’s also affirmed the pan-African banking group’s B3/Not Prime long- and short-term issuer ratings; B3 senior unsecured debt rating; b2 notional Baseline Credit Assessment and b1 Adjusted BCA.
ETI’s subsidiaries operate across 38 countries, including 35 African countries, and total assets of $28.9bn as of March 2025, details from the rating note highlighted. Moody’s said the decision to change the outlook to stable on the long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings reflects ETI’s resilient financial performance.
The rating upgrade also takes into consideration higher dividends being upstreamed to ETI, resulting in lower double leverage and reduced refinancing risk.
The rating adjustment also reflects an expectation that the recapitalisation process of Ecobank Nigeria Limited will be completed by the end of 2025, with limited impact on the group’s financial fundamentals.
“The stable outlook also captures our expectation that a series of capital-boosting initiatives and actions to cure Ecobank Nigeria’s total capital position will be completed before the end of 2025”, according to the ratings agency.
In May 2025, ETI received shareholder approval to raise $250 million in Additional Tier 1 (AT1) capital and announced the launch of the transaction effective 9 July 2025, of which a portion is expected to be downstreamed to Ecobank Nigeria as AT1 capital during Q3 2025.
Ecobank Nigeria’s plan to raise $200m in AT1 capital was noted in the rating note. The ratings analysts said they consider
“We also note that Ecobank Nigeria’s recent successful offer to tender $150m of its February 2026 $300 million notes and consent to remove the capital adequacy ratio covenant from this bond’s terms alleviates risks of an event of default in Nigeria that would trigger cross default at the ETI level. Over the past year, ETI has shown resilience in its financial performance, which supports our change in outlook to stable. Liquidity risks are being moderated by the group’s gradually improving profitability during 2024 and Q1-2025.
“This has translated into a 22 per cent increase in dividends upstreamed to ETI during 2024, these being received from 22 dividend-paying subsidiaries compared to just 14 in 2021,” the rating commentary revealed.
In turn, albeit high, ETI’s double leverage ratio, which measures the liquidity risk taken on by the holding company, as a result of it borrowing in order to invest in the equity of its subsidiaries, has eased to 168 per cent as of December 2024 from 173 per cent in 2023.
Additionally, the stable outlook reflects reduced liquidity risk at the holding company level with the refinancing of short-term liabilities in 2024 with longer-term funding.
Moody’s said this is underpinned by demonstrated market access, notably through senior unsecured notes issuance of $400m in October 2024 and a tap increase of $125m in May 2025, maturing in October 2029.
ETI’s B3 long-term issuer ratings affirmation reflects the affirmation of the group’s b2 notional BCA; the affirmation of the group’s b1 adjusted BCA as captured by a one-notch uplift for affiliate support, reflecting Moody’s assessment of a moderate probability that the firm’s major institutional shareholders would extend support to the group. Moody’s said asset quality for the group has improved over recent years.
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