Lagos — Mansard Insurance Plc has posted N10 billion gross premium in the third quarter of 2012 from N10 billion in the whole of 2011.

The insurance form said in a statement that it recorded eight per cent increase in profit by September 2012 after it changed to its new name.

It also said that it's profit increased from N1.2 billion in September 2011 to N1.3 billion same period of 2012.

The Executive Director, Mansard Insurance, Mr. Kunle Ahmed, said the results were signs that the new name has impacted on its business positively.

"Anything we say is what we will do, and if you have a policy with us and you have a loss, we are going to pay your loss within 24 hours and that is the commitment we made to our customers as we approach our first year anniversary," he said.

He also said, the decision to depart from the former name, GTAssur, to Mansard, was tough for the management team but the company's strategy of engaging and involving all stakeholders in its decision-making process paid off as the brand is currently enjoying top mileage and vast patronage in the market.

"We took the transition to Mansard Insurance like a project. We engaged our customers and took them in confidence each step of the process," Ahmed explained.

The Assistant General Manager, Marketing and Corporate Communications, Mansard, Mr. Taiwo Adeleye, attributed the success rate of the new brand to quality service delivery and massive marketing support for the brand which invariably created huge awareness and translated to increased market share that the brand was currently enjoying.

Apart from the survey that was conducted prior to the new name, the statement said that the brand also enjoyed massive marketing communications support, which made it one of the most visible and engaging insurance companies on the above-the-line platform.

One of Mansard's strong points is its ability to attract strong industry ratings.

It stated that industry rating companies such as Agusto & Co and Global Credit Rating had certified Mansard Insurance with A+ for credit and A+ for claims paying ability respectively.

It added that AM Best rated it B for financial strength and bb+ for issuer credit.

In the middle of 2012, the company launched a brand new name, Mansard Insurance Plc, as a result of Central Bank of Nigeria's guidelines demanding that banks divest from their non-banking companies or transform into a holding company structure.

Mansard Insurance is the first player in the industry to comply with the new policy.