Thomas
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Chuks Udo Okonta
The Commissioner for Insurance and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Sunday Thomas, has said the commission will release a new recapitalisation guideline for insurance and reinsurance companies after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thomas said this on Tuesday at an online meeting of insurance stakeholders tagged: `Post COVID- 19: Impact on the Insurance Industry’. He added that the pillars that formed the initial recapitalisation objectives, such as consolidation, foreign direct investments and local investors had been hindered by the pandemic.
He maintained that the commission is re-strategising, factoring this into the scene and creating different models to see which will be more result-oriented.
“The game has changed. Immediately we are pitched out of this pandemic, of course, we are going to release a new guideline with respect to recapitalisation exercise.
“The commission will be coming up with a structured way to ensure that the industry will have the necessary data to drive the business.
“We will look into our service delivery and awareness creation,” he posited..
Thomas, who described insurance as sensitive, appealed to brokers and underwriters to improve their response to claims payment.
Executive Director, AXA Mansard Insurance Plc, Mrs Rashidat Adebisi, appealed to operators to leverage opportunities created by the pandemic to build innovations that would improve the sector.
Group Managing Director of Cornerstone Insurance Plc, Ganiyu Musa, while speaking on the effect of the pandemic on jobs in the sector, urged employers to communicate to employees in a humane manner.
“What I tell people is that your best guarantee for job protection is improvement and efficiency. Clearly, no organisation will like to lose their most important resources. Communication is key, employers must communicate clearly in an unambiguous manner,’’ he said.
The insurance industry regulator had fixed the deadline for recapitalisation of the insurance and reinsurance companies for June 30, 2020, but later extended it to December. 31, 2020 before COVID-19 pandemic which has negatively affected business decisions across the globe.
