NAICOM gives insurance firms one month to submit report on unpaid claims

Insurance industry regulator, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), has given underwriting firms four weeks to submit detailed reports on their outstanding claims. Consequently, failure to do this or give information at variance with the required information would attract sanctions, according to the law, NAICOM disclosed in a circular sent to insurance companies’ chief executive officers. This, according to the commission, is in line with its commitment to protect policy holders and ensure best practice in the nation’s insurance industry.

In a statement signed by Mohammed Kari, deputy commissioner for insurance, technical, the commission said “as part of our statutory function to protect policy holders, and the persistent bad publicity the Nigerian insurance industry is getting on the matter of unsettled claims, the commission is once more determined to bring to an end the unfortunate scenario which is negatively impacting our quest to deepen insurance penetration and trust. “Consequently, you are required, within four weeks from the date of this circular to furnish the commission with all the outstanding claims in the register of your company”.

The information required includes name of insured/claimant; policy number; claim number; date of loss/incident; date of report; quantum/estimate and reasons why the claim is still outstanding. The information should be entered into www.nai- comgov.ng/outstanding- cliams; and a signed hard copy sent to the office of the commissioner for insur- ance, the statement noted. “Be reminded that the commission reserves the right to verify all information supplied and any variance found would not be condoned and would attract full regulatory sanctions as provided by the law”, the statement stated.