New bancassurance guidelines will reposition insurance industry – Committee

The Insurers Committee on Thursday said the the new guidelines on Bancassurance soon to be released by National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) would reposition the insurance industry for better performance.

Mr Segun Omosehin, Deputy Chairman, Publicity Sub-committee of the committee stated this at the end of the August meeting of the Insurers committee in Lagos.

The Insurers Committee consists of representatives of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) and Chief Executive Officers of all underwriting insurance companies in Nigeria.

The Committee is mandated to activate the industry’s change agenda and strategically reposition the insurance industry.

It was reported that bancassurance is a relationship between a bank and an insurance company that is aimed at offering insurance products or insurance benefits to the bank’s customers.

Omosehin, also Managing Director, Old Mutual Life Assurance said operators were hopeful that the revised guidelines on bancassurance when released would address some of the concerns of operators on the guidelines currently in place.

“One of the issues raised is the constraint on an insurance company to have dealings with not more than two banks at a time.

“We are hoping that the regulator would consider some of the issues raised from the market and take them into cognisance in the new guidelines,” he said.

Omosehin said the insurance regulator also agreed at the meeting to implement the up-scaling of the Ecowas Brown Card and Third Party Motor Insurance policy in Nigeria.

He said: “What is left is to finalise an applicable premium to be charged for the policy and we are taking into consideration the views of all stakeholders before adopting an amount.

“Hopefully, that will be concluded on or before the end of September.

Omosehin hinted that the commission had commenced a pilot scheme of the Risk Based Supervision (RBS) in eight insurance companies and this was expected to set a yardstick that would enable final adoption on RBS guidelines across the entire insurance market.

The sub-committee spokesman stated that the regulator also urged operators to participate more in annuity business and design annuity products for the market.

He said NAICOM changed operators to prioritise claims settlement and always looked for reasons to pay claims even when there were reasons not to.

On the International Financial Reporting Standard 2017 (IFRS 17) billed to replace IFRS 4 by January 2023, Omosehin explained that stage work towards the adoption of the standard had begun and underwriters were expected to work towards the full adoption of the standard before the effective date.

The sub-committee representative said NAICOM, at the meeting, also encouraged operators to update and upscale their technology to a level of on-the-spot online synergy with the NAICOM portal.

He noted that the committee also deliberated on the need for a new insurance industry’s Strategic 10 years plan that would harmonise the strategic plan of each arm of the industry.

“Representatives of trade association of the industry, such as the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA), Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), Insurance Loss Adjusters of Nigeria (ILAN) and the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) would come together to form a committee.

“The committee with NAICOM involvement would come up with a strategic plan for the industry, which would help operators achieve the industry’s wide objective and set a pace for it,” he said.

Omosehin noted that the committee set up for the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) gave a report of progress on how it was exploring opportunities, enhancing market integration, cross-border transactions for the benefit of the industry.