NAICOM: Why we delay new licenses
The Nigerian insurance regulatory body, National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, has said that emphasis should be placed on consolidating existing insurance firms and enhancing professionalism through training and retraining, as against issuing new operating licenses for new entrants.
The Commissioner for Insurance, Alhaji Mohammed Kari, said these recently that the NAICOM has refused to issue new operational licenses to insurance firms, because of its commitment to industry consolidation of existing players, over starting new companies.
The commissioner spoke during the Annual Insurance Professional Forum of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria with the theme: ‘Solvency, stability and growth-exploring possibilities,’ in Abeokuta, Ogun State recently.
Kari reechoed that it would be unwise to continue issuing new licenses for operators, after the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) had confirmed of death of professionalism in the industry.
He said,“After the Nigerian Insurers Association confirmed that there was dearth of professionals for all classes of insurance in the industry, it would not be wise to continue to issue new licenses because it was better for the operators to engage in training and development of professionals.”
He said, “Given that statement, we concluded that some want to continue to be sole administrators of their companies, or if that assertion is true, then we have too many operational licenses out there.”
Stories by Bonny Amadi
