BrazilNigerian management consultancy partners with Dutch firm to serve the insurance sector
Responding to an increasingly stringent regulatory framework in the insurance industry, Nigerian strategy solutions firm H. Pierson has forged a partnership with Dutch insurance solutions firm SecondFloor. The partnership will focus on offering ‘risk-based Supervisory Compliance Consulting,’ among a range of other services.
The insurance landscape in Nigeria is facing increased regulation. With the largest population as well as the largest GDP in Africa, the country is home to nearly 100 million financially eligible adults, most of whom are young and on the threshold of entering the financial system.
In essence, the country’s financial sector is growing in tandem with that of the rest of Africa, but the regulatory framework remains outdated, subjecting financial institutions to major risks. In response to an increase in the reported cases of fraud, government agencies are prioritising the regulation of the financial sector, including the insurance segment through the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).
H. Pierson, a Nigerian consulting firm, has been prompt to respond to this scenario. The firm has been operational in Nigeria for over 25 years, offering solutions in the risk management, human resource management, and strategy domains. Among the more prominent consulting firms in Nigeria, H. Pierson employs more than 60 professionals, and works with major industrial segments in the country and in its neighbouring regions, including power, oil & gas, financial services, and manufacturing.
The firm is now hoping to consult in the insurance sector through its risk management vertical, to help companies with compliance in the new regulatory scenario, as well as with the initiation of solvency proceedings. Alongside its expertise in risk and compliance, H. Pierson will be aided in this endeavour by the extensive experience in the insurance sector held by SecondFloor; a Dutch company with which the firm has now forged a partnership.
Based out of Amsterdam, SecondFloor is a consulting firm that offers IT-based solutions and products in risk management, but with a specific focus on the insurance segment. The firm’s operations are pan-European in their scope, and include the development of flagship products to help with compliance.
In its ten years of experience, SecondFloor has helped insurance firms to comply with the Solvency II Directive, which stipulates a harmonised set of regulations for the entire European Union. This experience is of particular relevance to the partnership with H. Pierson, given the pair’s focus on compliance.
In a statement, H. Pierson said, “The collaboration between the two firms offers the insurance sector risk-based Supervisory Compliance Consulting, Governance Risk and Compliance and Capital Management Consulting, Own-Risk Self-Assessment tools as well as the GRC and Solvency II Tools.”
The statement added, “On the partnership’s tools offered to clients which are said to be low-priced models with free trial flexibility, this is believed to be key for Nigerian companies that are in a cost-conscious mode, This partnership is a very welcome development as combining the joint expertise of H. Pierson and SecondFloor will serve to further strengthen insurance companies, the regulatory landscape and the insurance sector in general.”
