By ROSEMARY ONUOHA

The insurance sector is set to commence implementation of its Code of Corporate Governance by 1st of April this year.

Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Publicity and Communications of the Insurers Committee, Mr. Oye-Hassan Odukale, who is also Managing Director of Leadway Assurance Company Limited, stated this after the Committee’s meeting in Lagos.

Hassan-Odukale said that operators are given up to the end of March to comply with the 2009 code.

According to him, operators and the National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, agreed to transit to risk based supervision that would enable operators shore-up their capital in line with the businesses they want to underwrite.

“We had a lecture from NAICOM on risk based supervision, which is where we are transiting to. With risk based supervision, there would not be common capital base for insurance companies again, companies have to determine their capital in line with the business they do.

“The board of insurance companies would have the responsibility of determining the risk capital for their companies which would be supported by the appropriate capital. This is new in Nigeria. Just like the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS), we are transiting to this new initiative and NAICOM is taking us through it so that we can move our capital structure to this base.

“We also discussed the corporate governance code which was introduced by NAICOM in 2009, but for some reasons we have not been so firm on it, we were told that from April 1st NAICOM is going to enforce the code. NAICOM has agreed that since the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is coming up with a new code, we would allow the FRC code when is it out to supersede the present code. We are giving up to April to make sure we comply with the 2009 code,” he said.

Deputy Commissioner Finance and Administration of NAICOM, Mr. George Onekhena, said the parties had resolved to have representatives from insurers and NAICOM to look into some issues and challenges that insurers have with the Commission and fashion ways to solve them.

Mr. Oye-Hassan Odukale of Leadway Assurance is the Chairman, Publicity and Communications; Eddie Efekoha (Consolidated Hallmark) Chairman Technical; Val Ojuma (FNB Life) Chairman, Corporate Governance and Government Relations, Tope Smart (NEM Insurance) Chairman Market Development; Femi Oyetunji (Continental Re) Chairman Prudential and Keith Alford (Old Mutual) Customer Services.