By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
The National Insurance Commission has vowed to ensure the implementation of the International Financial Reporting Standards IFRS 17, come January 2023
Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Sunday Thomas made the commitment at the 2021 Insurance Directors Conference which held in Lagos on Wednesday.
He charged Insurance Directors to ensure that the implementation of the IFRS kickstarts as scheduled in their various companies.
“I want to urge you also to follow up on the implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards. IFRS 17 in your companies. The implementation dateline of 1st January, 2023 is right before us.
“Sufficient capacity building engagements have been conducted and sub-working groups inaugurated to facilitate the migration. You are therefore required to ensure that your entities are in full compliance and ready for the dateline,”He said.
He said despite the blow by Covid-19 pandemic, the insurance sector has shown resilience but it’s not immune to this challenges thus the need to constantly retool business strategies in line with this year’s Conference “Insurance Industry in a Changing World”
On the relevance of the conference to Insurance Directors, Thomas said,
“The decisions we have to take as a body are critical to the survival of our entities. I am hopeful that our deliberations here today will provide us the inputs or necessary ingredients that can assist in making policies and strategies that will enhance survival and growth of our various institutions.
“The rapid changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic in many fronts have drastically opened doors of opportunities for many positive thinking minds and created serious setback for many who are not able to cope with the speed at which some of these changes appeared.
“An obvious example is the technological advancement in the insurance industry which has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic compelling many of us to shift from the traditional ways of conducting business to more sophisticated and technology driven mechanisms. Indeed, am able to address you this morning virtually because of technological advancement popularised by the advent of the pandemic,”
On the relevance of digital technology to operations, he said the Commission has stepped up it’s game and automated it’s operations.
“While it has not been so difficult for some companies to adapt to the new world order, a lot of other companies have been struggling to cope. The Commission on its part successfully launched the NAICOM Portal on 1st September, 2021 deployed to ensure effective and efficient interface between the Commission and our stakeholders.
“The Commission had since directed all operators to integrate their operations with the portal. It is imperative to inform you here that any company that is lagging behind in this regard is inadvertedly phasing itself out of business. Your respective attitude towards information technology funding in your various companies will go a long way in determining the longevity and existence of not only the companies, but the retention of the brand names or corporate identities. This is food for thoughts.
“Again, the volatility, dynamism and complexities in the operations of today’s businesses has necessitated the need for a risk-based approach to the way and manner the Regulator conducts its supervision and inspection of insurance entities. It is on this premise that the Commission commenced the implementation of Risk Based Supervision (RBS) of the sector,” he further explained.
On the issue of development of insurance in the country, he urged the Directors to work closely with their management as a lot is expected from them at the top level.
He added that NAICOM is working assiduously to open up the market particularly the retail end, conducting engagements with various agencies and state governments on the need to boost insurance culture across the country.
