Tangerine Officially Launches in Nigeria
A financial services and technology platform, Tangerine has officially launched its operations in Nigeria.
The company unveiled its financial services at a media briefing held recently.
Speaking to journalists, Head Life Insurance, Tangerine Nigeria, Livingstone Magorimbo; Head Pensions, Tangerine Nigeria, Dapo Akisanya, and Head Commercial, Tangerine Nigeria, Ibitunde Balogun, spoke about the company and shared the businesses agenda and future growth plans.
In September 2019, Tangerine was established following the acquisition of 100 per cent equity stake in Metropolitan Life Insurance Nigeria by Verod Capital Management, a private equity firm investing in growth companies across Anglophone West Africa.
This was followed by a stream of strategic mergers & acquisitions, notably: The acquisition of ARM Life through Metropolitan Life to establish Tangerine Life Insurance Limited; Verod’s acquisition of Law Union and Rock, one of the leading general insurance companies in the space, which has since been rebranded as Tangerine General Insurance Limited; the acquisition of Assured MFB, a microfinance bank, by Tangerine Life to establish Tangerine Money; and in the pensions space, the acquisition of Pension Fund Administrators (PFA) - AXA Mansard Pension and a minority stake in a significant PFA by Verod.
AXA Mansard has since been rebranded Tangerine Pensions and the process to merge the two PFAs has commenced. The merger will produce a formidable competitor with wide geographic coverage.
Today, the company is made up of Tangerine Life, Tangerine General, Tangerine Pensions and Tangerine Money.
“They are positioned to be Africa’s preferred one-stop financial solutions provider, leveraging a tech-driven, flexible, high-access platform to drive business across all the financial services segments in Africa to deepen financial inclusion, facilitate wealth creation and protection,” the officials of the company said.
Speaking on the progress they have made since 2019, Akisanya said, “In under two years, we have been able to successfully acquire and rebrand several businesses, firmly establishing Tangerine.
“We have also made significant strides in repositioning our businesses in readiness for growth by assembling a strong, agile and experienced team that aligns with our strategic thinking.
“In the area of recapitalisation, the Nigerian insurance industry is currently going through a suspended recapitalisation process, which has sought to increase the minimum statutory capital levels for life insurance and general insurance businesses from N2 billion to N8 billion and N3 billion to N10 billion, respectively.”