By Rosemary Onuoha

Chairman of Cornerstone Insurance Plc, Mr. Adedotun Sulaiman said that his company does not undertake under the table business.

Addressing shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting in Lagos last week, Suleiman stated that insurance operators still engage in a lot of sharp practices but Cornerstone has separated itself from the lot and is determined not to toe that line.

While trying to placate shareholders of Cornerstone who were aggrieved with the not too impressive outing of the company coupled with the fact that they wont be getting dividend for the 2010 financial year, the Chairman stressed that the reason for the company’s unimpressive outing for the year was because they chose to be ethical and professional in their business dealings.

According to Suleiman, the insurance industry is a broker denominated industry as they control over 70 per cent of businesses transacted in the sector, consequently the situation has forced a lot of powers into the hands of brokers.

The extent to which brokers have put their powers to use in compelling underwriters to agree to some of their outrageous demands have left little or nothing to be desired, Suleiman noted.

He lamented that the situation has made it difficult for companies that choose to do things ethically to survive in the highly competitive insurance market because bribing to get business at all cost still persist in the sector.

Insurance, Suleiman said, is done on the basis of charging commissions which are authorised by law, but over time a lot of illegal fees have been introduced and is killing the business and giving it a lot negative perception.

In his words “These unauthorised charges are corrupting the system and causing corruption to be legalised.”