ATI pays first dividend to shareholders excluding Nigeria
African Trade Insurance (ATI) has earmarked an initial $2.5 million in payments to its shareholders which include 14 African member governments.
Unfortunately Nigeria that was supposed to benefit from this dividend will not be getting, for the lack of presidential readiness to conclude documentation and signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Nigeria and the African Trade Insurance (ATI) agency.
African Trade Insurance expects its annual insured trade and investment portfolio to double to $7 billion within five years, driven by new members including Ghana and Nigeria, which are expected to finalize their registration before end of 2018.
BusinessDay investigation showed that ATI’s request to have a workshop in Nigeria, with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, being present to finalise registration requirements has not been able to sell through.
This development analyst say is undermining Nigeria’s participation in the continental insurance agency that was established to provide risk guarantee for private investors coming into Nigeria as well as exporters from the country.
Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun had in September 2017 announced the Federal executive council Meeting’s approval of Nigeria’s membership of the African Trade Insurance Agency.
Adeosun said the council approved a memo she presented which harped on the necessity of Nigeria to be part of African Trade Insurance Agency to provide risk guarantee for investment coming into Nigeria as well as export from the country.
The continental insurance agency she said was set up with the support of the World Bank, owned by African government and is registered under the United Nations treaty to provide insurance and promote economic growth in member countries
Adeosun said joining the agency would provide risk guarantees, sovereign guarantee and risk mitigation, disclosing that many African countries are already members of the agency.
In a much anticipated announcement, the African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) on Tuesday declared that its General Assembly had approved the first ever payments to shareholders. The announcement comes on the heels of ATI’s Annual General Meeting held in Abidjan, where the company also announced its record-breaking 2017 financial results for the sixth consecutive year.
The company’s CEO, George Otieno noted “We have been planning for this moment for several years and I am happy to finally announce that we are ready to give something back to our shareholders. This signals our intention to continue showing value to our member governments and shareholders, while providing non-member countries and institutional investors an incentive to join.”
In 2017, ATI recorded gross exposures of $2.4 billion and, in the same period, the company covered investment and trade activities across the continent valued at $10 billion. ATI also posted a $10 million profit representing a 55 percent increase over 2016.
ATI owes its strong results in part to growing demand from investors and African governments for their products as the continent continues to position itself as an attractive destination for investors. Africa’s drive to increase trade within its borders is also fuelling ATI’s success.
The African multilateral insurer also announced the Government of India’s $10 million shareholding, which will be represented by ECGC, India’s export credit agency.