Agency Report
The National Insurance Commission said it had approved 32 out of 41 firms’ 2016 financial statements submitted to it.The Head, Corporate Affairs of NAICOM, Mr Rasaaq Salami, said that nine others had queries and the commission was awaiting the response of the affected companies.He also denied reports that the commission was delaying clearance of insurance firms’ financial statements was untrue.
Salami said the onus was on the affected companies to reply to the queries raised so that they could complete the process of getting the approvals. “What do you expect? NAICOM is not a rubber stamp commission. Once the financial account of any insurance company meets the required standard, it will be approved.“The commission has approved over 32 firms’ financial statements out of 57 insurance companies in the country.“So far, 41 companies have submitted their financial accounts and out of the 41, 32 companies’ financial statements have been approved by the commission.“The other insurance companies’ financial statements have not been approved because some have been queries and a response to the queries is being awaited,” Salami said.
The NAICOM official said some of the companies also had the habit of submitting their accounts very late.
Some insurance companies had informed their shareholders that they were unable to file their audited financial statements to the Nigerian Stock Exchange because they were awaiting NAICOM approval.
NAICOM is the apex body established to regulate and supervise the Nigerian insurance sector.
The commission’s regulation requires insurance firms to submit their financial statements on or before March 31.
The Insurance Act imposes a daily fine of N5,000 on firms that fail to meet the March 31 deadline for the submission of their accounts.
The commission, in the past, had vowed to implement relevant measures to discourage companies from filing late returns and sanction errant ones appropriately.
It said actions to be taken include a detailed review of their accounting and financial reporting systems and restriction of certain activities until relevant returns are filed, among others.