Capitalisation: FG Challenges Insurers on Stronger Institutions, Balance Sheet

Ebere Nwoji The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the economy, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, has challenged operators of insurance sector to ensure that their new capital regime produces more than stronger balance sheets, stronger institutions, build public confidence as well as provide better protection for businesses and Nigerian households. Oyedele, threw the challenge while addressing directors of insurance companies at the 8th Annual Insurance Directors’ Conference organised by the College of Insurance and Financial Management in collaboration with the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM ) recently in Lagos. Oyedele who was represented at the directors’ forum by finance expert in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Dr Greg Ezeilo, charged insurers and their regulators not to see their transition to new capital regime as mere regulatory obligation but as opportunity to strategic transformation. “The ultimate measure of success will not be how much capital the industry raises, but how effectively that capital protects policy holders, absorbs shocks, builds confidence and finances economic progress, I am confident that this can be achieved, “the finance minister said. Also speaking, the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Olusegun Ayo Omosehin, urged the insurance directors to look beyond their company’s present capital and pay particular attention to the quality of the capital, the manner in which it is deployed, the risks it supports and the returns it generates to ensure that their institutions remain resilient in the face of the new capital. He warned the directors that the fact that their companies scaled through the recapitalisation hurdle did not mean they were resilient.