Insurers Settles Claims Worth N822m
- By Rosemary Onuoha
- Published February 15th, 2010
- News
- Unrated
THE National Insurance Commission, (Naicom), said that it influenced some insurance companies to settle delayed claims worth N821.91 million in the last financial year.
Due to its zero tolerance of underwriting firms delaying in claim settlement or outright refusal to pay claims, Naicom noted that its intervention in a total of 106 complaints yielded substantial dividend in 2009.
According to a statement from the commission signed by Mr. Lucky Fiakpa, assistant director of corporate affairs, and made available to BusinessWorld, the complaint bureau of Naicom received a total of 298 complaints in 2009 compared to 357 in 2008. The decrease in the number of complaints is an indication that the level of complaints on unsettled claims is on the decline. It also shows that underwriters are improving in their claims settlement, Naicom maintained.
“It is also evident from the number of complaints handled by the bureau that the insuring public is becoming aware of the role of Naicom as the government agency responsible for insurance related matters and so insurance related complaints were forwarded to Naicom accordingly. This accounted for the fairly large number of complaints received from individuals, corporate bodies and government establishments in 2009.”
A breakdown of the figures show that Nicon Insurance Company had the highest number of 64 settled claims involving the sum of N626.28 million while on the average, the nature of complaints received in 2009 bordered on delay in settlements of claims, bond related issues and pension matters similar to the cases handled in 2008.
On bond related issues, Naicom revealed that an insurance company was suspended from accepting and underwriting any kind of bond for an indefinite period during the year to serve as deterrent to others as well as encourage underwriting firms to properly standardize their internal underwriting procedures for bonds.
According to Naicom “So much priority is attached to claim settlement by underwriting firms that the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Fola Daniel, had to personally intervene in some cases, calling or meeting with defaulting companies and requiring them to pay within a given time frame. This intervention contributed to the increased number of settled claims as well as the reduced number of complaints received during the year.”
Naicom noted that it would have done more than this but for the fact that a good number of the complaints related to claims against companies that are in liquidation. Principal among them is Amicable Insurance Company (in-liquidation). Substantially, the settled claims were as a result of direct correspondences between the bureau and the insurance institutions. Few cases were subjected to adjudication. The few number of cases which were settled through adjudication involved the sum of N591 million, the commission noted.
Due to its zero tolerance of underwriting firms delaying in claim settlement or outright refusal to pay claims, Naicom noted that its intervention in a total of 106 complaints yielded substantial dividend in 2009.
According to a statement from the commission signed by Mr. Lucky Fiakpa, assistant director of corporate affairs, and made available to BusinessWorld, the complaint bureau of Naicom received a total of 298 complaints in 2009 compared to 357 in 2008. The decrease in the number of complaints is an indication that the level of complaints on unsettled claims is on the decline. It also shows that underwriters are improving in their claims settlement, Naicom maintained.
“It is also evident from the number of complaints handled by the bureau that the insuring public is becoming aware of the role of Naicom as the government agency responsible for insurance related matters and so insurance related complaints were forwarded to Naicom accordingly. This accounted for the fairly large number of complaints received from individuals, corporate bodies and government establishments in 2009.”
A breakdown of the figures show that Nicon Insurance Company had the highest number of 64 settled claims involving the sum of N626.28 million while on the average, the nature of complaints received in 2009 bordered on delay in settlements of claims, bond related issues and pension matters similar to the cases handled in 2008.
On bond related issues, Naicom revealed that an insurance company was suspended from accepting and underwriting any kind of bond for an indefinite period during the year to serve as deterrent to others as well as encourage underwriting firms to properly standardize their internal underwriting procedures for bonds.
According to Naicom “So much priority is attached to claim settlement by underwriting firms that the Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Fola Daniel, had to personally intervene in some cases, calling or meeting with defaulting companies and requiring them to pay within a given time frame. This intervention contributed to the increased number of settled claims as well as the reduced number of complaints received during the year.”
Naicom noted that it would have done more than this but for the fact that a good number of the complaints related to claims against companies that are in liquidation. Principal among them is Amicable Insurance Company (in-liquidation). Substantially, the settled claims were as a result of direct correspondences between the bureau and the insurance institutions. Few cases were subjected to adjudication. The few number of cases which were settled through adjudication involved the sum of N591 million, the commission noted.
