•Orders NIA to publish unpaid claims, implement whistle-blowing policy
By Henry Uche, [email protected]
National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has issued a stern warning to insurance operators against dealing with unlicensed agents and brokers if the sector must progress and earn the trust of the public.
Speaking the Insurers Committee of the industry, Chairman of Sub-Committee on Publicity, Ebelechukwu Nwachukwu, who is also Managing Director of Royal Exchange General Insurance, affirmed that NAICOM observed the practice (dealing with unprofessional agents and brokers) during the ongoing Risk- Based Supervision (RBS) in some insurance companies.
“The regulator spoke to us very strongly, to ensure that all the agents and brokers we deal with are licensed up-to-date or renewed, as against doing business with brokers with expired licences or unregistered agents,” she said.
The sub-committee chairman posited that NAICOM directed that boards of the various underwriting firms should approve and implement whistle-blowing policies in their respective companies.
Nwachukwu said the committee also agreed on the need for the insurance industry to increase awareness of annuities and continue to build trust to ensure that the product line grows significantly.
“With the amount of funds in the pension industry, we should expect a lot of that to be downloaded into the insurance industry through annuity. Moreover there was need for NAICOM to continue to engage the National Assembly to ensure the passage of the Consolidated Insurance Bill”
She noted that insurers had also begun the process of harmonising the ECOWAS Brown Card to ensure that the same certificate is issued across all countries in the region using the brown card, noting that insurers took a presentation from KPMG, as part of its planning for the insurance industry’s 10-year Transformation Roadmap.
While emphasizing on the need for continuous improvement in RBS for the growth of the industry and the implementation of risk-based pricing, the Royal Exchange boss said that the committee’s transformation roadmap includes proposals for increased awareness, enhanced market conduct, insurer partnerships with telecommunications and non-insurance channels, digitalisation improvement and deepening of talents, adding that NAICOM has indicated that the kick-off date for RBC may not extend beyond 2024.
“Insurers were charged with digitalisation and improvement of the talents pool as well as making efforts to support national economic growth plan” she added.
Still on the outcome of the meeting, NAICOM expressed dissatisfaction over the backlog of unpaid claims by insurance companies as Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) gets a two-week timeline to publish details of outstanding claims in the industry on their website to aid policyholders who wish to claim their settlements.
According to the commission, reports from the insurance companies show that some outstanding claims were not (as though) the companies are not ready to pay, but that policyholders have not come up with the required documents to conclude the processes. The regulator moreover expressed optimism that going by progress reports of the insurance sector, it is on track of achieving long-awaited N1tr Gross Premium Income (GPI) target by close of the year, 2023.
Also speaking, the Head of Corporate Communications & Market Development, NAICOM, Rasaaq Salami, said the ultimatum to publish unpaid claims is aimed at making insurance subscribers claim their indemnity.
Salami said the two-week ultimatum given to NIA to execute the publication would be followed by a three-month monitoring period to assess improvements in the industry, adding that if progress is lacking after three months, regulatory action might be taken.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Sunday Thomas, while addressing the issue of claims at an earlier forum said: “Claims payment has always been one aspect the industry is battling to balance.
We all agree that we cannot claim ignorance of the fact that the industry is paying huge claims out there even though the activities of a few among the operators are jeopardizing the efforts of the majority.
“We had, before now, agreed to start ranking companies on the number of claims received and settled every year and we intend to publish such ranking for the insurance consumers. It is always an issue that puts the entire industry on the edge. The commission is doing all it can to see that the non-settlement of claims is brought to its barest minimum in the sector,”