NAICOM bars undercapitalised insurers from new businesses, orders claims settlements 

The National Insurance Commission has stopped some insurance firms from taking new businesses. It also placed a limit on the transactions some of them can underwrite based on the level of capital they have. This followed the continuous challenge which had delayed the enforcement of recapitalisation in the industry. The Commissioner for Insurance, National Insurance Commission, Mr Sunday Thomas, disclosed this to our correspondent in an interview. He said the commission observed that the capital of some insurance firms had eroded over time which could hinder their ability to pay claims. To protect the policyholders, he said NAICOM ordered some insurance firms to divert a substantial part of the proceeds earned from their asset sales to payment of claims. Thomas said, “We have done a bit of what we said we will do as a first step. Some of them (insurance companies) have been stopped from taking new businesses; and for some of them, we have limited their expenses; we call it regulatory order.

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