BY FAVOUR NNABUGWU

Over 450 brokers are facing tight scrutiny to determine whether they will retain their license or forfeit it.
This is because Insurance Brokers are being hit by licence renewal requirements for the 2011 business year which February 28 deadline set for the process elapsed Monday . The renewal process has been tightened by the insurance regulator, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) in its 2011 guidelines for operation of the business,

With NAICOM’s determination to wipe out non-professional operators whose practice has brought down the image of the industry, it is tasking for operators now to get renewal for the current year particularly those who have not met the regulators guideline.

The implication of this stringent exercise, analysts say would sanitise the industry of nuisance, fraud stars and non-professionals from taking part in the business. According to analysts, this is a worthwhile exercise by NAICOM, as the industry can no longer accommodate players that have no interest in the business.

A broker who preferred not to be mentioned said NAICOM has come hard on brokers, but said it is for the interest of the market because if insurance must occupy its right of place in the financial services sector, intermediaries particularly the brokers must play by the rules of the game. It was learnt that the Nigerian
Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) may have made some overtures to NAICOM on how to relax some of the policies, which they feel is making things difficult for their members.

However, a source at NAICOM said that though the Commission is considering some of the demands of the NCRIB, it plans not to bend the rules as far as it would be in the interest of the industry. “We have monitored the brokers and discovered that some of them do not have the interest of the industry at heart, particular the one-off players who are in the business for specific government accounts, and goes to sleep there after”

Such operators the source said do not invest in developing the market, sparingly participate in activities concerning the industry, form majority of those that withhold underwriters’ premium and hardly pay claims.

A fresh effort to sanitise the activities of insurance intermediaries including the insurance brokers, loss adjusters, agents and to hold them accountable for their actions began in the current financial year, even though it has existed particularly in the 2003 Insurance Act, they however, were not effectively implemented.

The determination according to NAICOM is geared at achieving its target of a strengthened operational standard and improved quality performance.