The National Insurance Commission, has reminded insurers not create a domain for capital compliant operators to showcase individual capital levels but to recognise the enormous business potential that the market can tape into with new record high capacity, confidence and trust to earn.
The position of the Commission was delivered as a content in the keynote of the Commissioner for Insurance, Olusegun Omosehin, at BUSINESSDAY Insurance Conference today in Lagos. The event theme is, “From Capital to Capacity: Driving Growth, Innovation and Trust in Nigeria’s Insurance Sector.”
Omosehin used the event to remind insurance operators that capital without capacity is merely a number on a balance sheet. Short of calling for immediate deployment of capital, Omosehin who was represented by Dr. Julius Odidi, Head Lagos Control Office, said, “Capital becomes meaningful only when it translates into better service delivery, stronger governance, technologicl advancement, prompt claims settlement, product innovation, and improved customer experiences.”
The CFI firmly said, “The era of measuring progress by capital alone is behind us. The future belongs to institutions that convert capital into capacity, capability into innovation, innovation into trust, and trust into sustainable growth.”
He said the stage now is build on a new vision, an industry that is financially strong, technologically advanced, customer-focused, and globally competitive. Besides this, he said there several must dos. Create an industry that inspires confidence, delivers value, supports Nigeria’s economic transformation and an industry that fulfills promise.
He underlines the the non negotiable position the industry must pursue to attain this vision. “If we remain committed to this vision, future generations will look back on this period not merely as an era of reform, but as the moment when the Nigerian insurance industry truly came of age.”
In the goodwill message of the Nigerian Insurers Association, the Chairman, Mrs Ebelechukwu Nwachukwu, reiterated that capital is not the destination but what it is deployed for. Adding to the conversation beyond recapitalisation, she said, “The value of recapitalisation will be judged by what it delivers to policyholders, not by what it says on a balance sheet.”
Nwachukwu said available capacity to translate value to policyholders; it must be matched by discipline. “More capital gives room to write bigger risks and grow faster. It must go hand in hand with sound underwriting, prudent risk management, and adequate pricing.
NIA chairman said innovation and distribution must widen the market. But there is a known setback, poor penetration, which she noted “remains far below what our economy and population require. What would open the ajar penetration door she advanced is, “Technology, Insurtech partnerships, digital channels, and products designed for underserved segments give us practical ways to reach Nigerians we have not yet served.”
The third place to note which she tagged the ‘most important’ is trust, the currency ‘of our industry’ Nwachukwu emphasised that “Every improvement in claims delivery, transparency, and customer experience strengthens public confidence, and every delay or dispute weakens it.”
NIA chairperson said that achieving what the theme points to has to be be hands on the plough as opposed to a lone hand. “It will require insurers, reinsurers, brokers, regulators, and the media to work together with a shared sense of purpose.”
