TBMSC: Shareholders group to continue case against NAICOM


The Independent Shareholders’ Association of Nigeria (ISAN) has said the court action instituted against the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) was to save the insurance industry and people’s investments.

ISAN President, Sunny Nwosu while speaking with an online medium recently in Lagos noted that the association is not in a hurry to withdraw and close the case despite NAICOM’s withdrawal and cancellation of the Tier-Based Minimum Solvency Capital (TBMSC)

“We have not yet spoken with our lawyers to agree on what to do next because we are not in a hurry to close the case. We will keep watching.”

Nwosu said it is difficult for ISAN to agree with NAICOM that capital inadequacy is the problem of insurance industry in Nigeria.

He said insurance stock is not popular and no longer yielding returns to investors and because of this, investors are no longer keen to invest in insurance stocks.

“I think what the regulator should do is to see how  they can make the stocks of the public quoted insurance companies attractive for investors instead of asking the players to raise capital when they are just recovering from years of recession, more so this is election year. The timing is not proper.”

Nwosu said insurance industry players should be given freehand to either go into merger or adopt their own way of raising capital instead of forcing or coercing them to do so, which, according to him, might not augur well with the industry.

He called on the leadership of NAICOM to put their act together and think of how to develop the sector to contribute adequately to the development of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“A situation where those you are regulating are always against your decisions, then as leader it is advisable you look inward and ensure you put your acts together. We are aware that the Brokerage arm of the industry under the aegis of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance almost went to court before the commission stopped the State Insurance Producer (SIP) SIP. With this, I think there is problem in the leadership of NAICOM,” he added.

He said one of the things that is also killing the industry is the issue of rate-cutting which he said is being perpetrated by big insurance companies with large reserves, and appealed to them to refrain from this act for the interest of the industry.

It would be recalled that the TBSMC which implementation was stalled by a court order in September, was finally dumped by the regulator in November last year.

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