The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has reaffirmed its willingness to further expand the insurance market by providing digital channels for underwriters to sell products and settle claims.
Sunday Thomas, the Commissioner for Insurance, stated this at a workshop for journalists titled ‘Improving Insurance Access through Market Development and Innovation in 2022 and Beyond’ in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
He stated that the workshop was intended to interact with the media and inform them about developments in the insurance industry.
The event, according to the Commissioner, who was represented by the Deputy Commissioner, Technical, Sabiu Abubakar, aimed to correct negative perceptions of the insurance industry.
Pius Agboola, Directorate, Inspectorate, NAICOM, stated in his paper presentation that the rationale behind risk-based supervision (RBS) was identifying early risks that firms may have and acting on them promptly, properly applying effective intervention mechanisms.
Agboola, who described NAICOM as Africa’s leading RBS regulator, stated that the regulator’s method of assessing firms included research. Others, he said, included identifying the risk that could harm the company, assessing management’s ability to control the risk, determining whether the firm has enough earnings, capital, and capacity to minimize the overall net risk, and rating the company while offering solutions.
Abiodun Aribike, Head of Information Technology, also stated that insurance penetration had reached 2% of Nigerian adults and had maintained a 0.88 percent growth rate.
According to Aribike, insurance companies must do more to broaden their reach.
Data, he believes, will continue to be crucial in improving revenue generation.
He emphasized the importance of insurance companies improving their automation and optimizing their business processes without sacrificing efficiency, quality, or response time.
“Data is the new and lifeblood of the digital age; it can be used massively for decision-making across the insurance value chain and ecosystem, as well as product development,” he said.
In terms of providing customer experiences, he stated that the digital age has raised customer expectations, so it was time to look at business from the customers’ perspective.
Speaking at the same event, Director of Supervision Barineke Thompson stated that the ability of a stable and efficient financial system to fulfill its key economic functions at all times is the hallmark of a stable and efficient financial system.
