1 Mr Tony Elumelu, Chairman, Heirs Holdings, on Thursday proposed N50 million as capital base for insurance broking companies working in Nigeria.
2 Elumelu, additionally founder, Tony Elumelu Foundation, stated this on the sixtieth Anniversary Colloquium of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) with the theme, “60 Years of Insurance Broking: Redefining the Practice and Practitioners.
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He stated it had turn out to be essential to recapitalise the insurance brokerage business within the nation as N5 million was not sufficient capital base.
4 “I recommend a minimum of N50 million as capital base; we need to adequately capitalise the brokerage sector.
5 “The insurance is very important to the economy, so also is the quality of governance, institutions, and practitioners of the sector.
6 “Insurance is recognised as a technical business that requires special expertise.
7 “This, therefore, makes it difficult for most people to make the right choice on insurance purchase and also requires professional assistance when claims occur,” he stated.
8 According to him, members of NCRIB have over time facilitated insurance companies in a whole bunch of billions of naira, delighted hundreds of thousands of Nigerians with their skilled insurance companies and ensured that claims are duly settled.
9 Elumelu famous that experience of an insurance dealer was essential, as intermediaries between the insurance client and an insurance firm.
10 He charged NCRIB’s management to implement strict adherence to company governance by all its members and weed out non-registered and non-compliant members from its fold to keep up its integrity.
11 He emphasised that in redefining the observe and practitioners within the insurance broking occupation, NCRIB ought to lead the struggle towards unethical practices that had been the bane of the business for years.
12 Elumelu listed a few of the unethical practices to incorporate premium fee slicing, delayed premium remittance, unremitted premium, overloading of premium, returned premium, faux paperwork and fraudulent claims.
13 He additionally talked about collusion to defraud, mis-selling, unhealthy competitors, misrepresentations, manipulation of coverage circumstances, self-enrichment strategies disguised as advertising and marketing bills, amongst others.
14 According to him, whereas the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) continues to play its position because the business regulator, NCRIB as a physique should be certain that applicable sanctions are imposed on any of its members responsible of unethical practices.
15 “NCRIB and other insurance industry bodies should collaborate more to deepen insurance penetration in Nigeria while the council also plays a key role in advocacy for pro-insurance laws and policies.
16 Elumelu urged insurance stakeholders to generate more awareness and showcase the value of insurance to the public, promoting participation, especially in the retail space.
17 According to him, insurers must bridge the knowledge gap if they are to make insurance attractive to Nigerians.
18 He noted that insurance brokers needed to participate fully in the awareness drive to benefit from the initiative like other players in the industry.
19 Elumelu stressed that the insurance brokers’ community and by extension, the entire Nigerian insurance industry, must embrace technology fully to remain relevant in the modern business arena.
20 “The body also needs to work towards positioning its members properly for digital integration, mediating between the insuring public and the underwriters digitally.
21 “The brokers’ industry cannot advance when the other financial services are transitioning to online real time, and we are still stuck with a system that relies on hard copy files and documents.
22 “The brokerage sector needs to drive clean data for the industry and this is not a one person job,” he stated.
23 Elumelu congratulated NCRIB on its sixtieth anniversary and for organising essentially the most befitting occasion to mark the milestone.
24 In his welcome deal with, NCRIB’s President, Mr Rotimi Edu, stated brokers who constituted the skilled arm of the insurance business had an excellent position to play in inflicting the specified change within the business.
25 “Aside from constituting a preponderant chunk of the industry’s manpower professionally, insurance brokers are the closest to the insuring public whose actitivities could not be undermined in the value chain.
26 “This position of the broker confers on him the responsibility to always get the best for his client and be continually creative in terms of products development,” Edu stated.
27 According to him, the council will proceed to braze as much as the challenges being confronted by its members for the collective good of the business.
28 He stated: “Aside from seeing to it that our membership remains cohesive, informed and dynamic, we have put in place strategies to edge out charlatans from our midst.
29 “Our aspiration is to make our council a ‘League of Reputable Insurance Brokers’ that would offer valued services to insurance clients in the country.
30 “For instance, with the professional practicing seal now introduced, all members of the council would be able to distinguish their practice and by so doing earn the required respect and dignity,” he stated.
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