ELEVEN insurance companies  will pay over N40 million as penalty for late submission of their annual audited financial account to the National Insurance Commission (Naicom).
This development is coming at a time of low profit margins occasioned by poor business outing and economic meltdown. The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) also recently slammed a technical suspension on insurance companies listed on the exchange that have yet to submit their audited results to the Exchange.
The affected companies are Great Nigeria Insurance; Guinea Insurance Plc; IntercontinentalWapic Insurance Plc; Investment & Allied Insurance Plc; Niger Insurance Plc; Unic Insurance Plc as well as Universal Insurance Plc. Others are Crusader Insurance Group; International Energy Insurance Plc; Staco Insurance Plc as well as Royal Exchange Group. However, majority of the companies that are not listed on the stock exchange have yet to submit their reports.
Issues bothering on doctored returns, late submission as well as inauthentic and inaccurate accounts have been plaguing the insurance industry for too long. Consequently, Naicom decided to checkmate the negative trend by critically analysing submitted accounts. 
Mr. Fola Daniel, commissioner for insurance, reiterated that Naicom cannot be involved in criminal conspiracy and will no longer rubber stamp audited accounts as has been the case in the past.
Although, operators are arguing that Naicom is over regulating the sector, Daniel posited that without effective regulation, discipline will not be entrenched in the sector.