The National Insurance Commission is on the match to address the diminishing performance from the traditional ways of insurance distribution by injecting a broad based approach that encompasses the current levels of development available to the consumers of insurance and the providers.
The Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Sunday Thomas, made this known in Lagos as he lodged his remark at a training hosted by the Commission for insurance journalists. Not done yet, he charged insurance operators to improve their budget on publicity which will not only sustain insurance awareness but also serve as a rider for the coming guidelines for robust distribution channels.
Mr. Thomas said NAICOM is addressing broadly the current distribution shrink because the traditional ways of distribution is already inadequate to distribute insurance products and services.
The CFI said work on the new guideline is approaching the finish line with all areas of involvement receiving final touches before release to the market.
Also in the line of duty is the count down to the start of risk based supervision. The first phase of the roll out will commence before the last quarter of the year. Thomas said all hands are on deck to achieve and the Commission is preparing for a hitch free start in this new form of supervision that has become the global practice. He expressed In a succinct way the Commission’s focus to become global complaint, “Risk based supervision is now a reality.”
He said what needs to be done for the take-off of RBS has been “substantially done” and the Commission has set its commencement time to two months from the beginning of June.
NAICOM’s readiness for RBS is shown by the human capacity it has developed which at the last count in early June is 50, the nucleus of staff for the first phase. CFI also said the framework has been exposed to the CBN for input and the Commission is ready for field trials. He explained that the pilot scheme involving companies providing data required has gone far.
While the first phase is set for roll out the Commission cleared that the second phase which will require setting minimum share capital will remain on hold until the 2020 Insurance Bill is passed and signed. Until that happens, the risk based capital supervision remains out of action It is also expected that the scheduled meeting between the National Assembly and the Commission by mid June will set the urgency for the speedy passage of the Insurance Bill and ultimately bring to the fore risk based supervision as it relates to minimum share capital.
