TBMCS: Operating in any tier is a choice says Kari
The Commissioner for insurance, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Alhaji Mohammed Kari, has said that operating in any of the three tiers of the recently introduced Tier-Based Minimum Capital Solvency (TBMCS) is a choice noting that the TBMCS is not a recapitalisation project.
He said the choice by any insurance firm to operate in any of the three tiers is solely the responsibility of the board of the various insurance companies.
Kari gave the explanations in his opening remarks at the 2018 Media Retreat organised by NAICOM for insurance correspondents, business editors and bureau chiefs in Abuja recently.
The aim of the regulator, he said, is to checkmate the excess of insurance companies for the benefits of the policyholders, investors and the economy at large, adding that the introduction of the policy framework in the industry is not targeted at killing any insurance company but to ensure the growth of the industry.
He said further that he is aware of few insurance companies in the industry that have achieved 85 per cent of their business income operating in tier three.
“I am aware of the few companies in the big league who decided to target tier three businesses and have been able to achieve 85 percent of their business income. Nobody compelled them. Nobody directed them because it is their model of operation,” Kari said.
“The secrets about tier one and tier three I will tell you as evidence. Two or three companies with the highest premium in the industry that operated in the so-called tier one exported more than 80 per cent of their businesses; it’s inevitable because they don’t have the capacity of that business. And you think that is business? You think that justifies the promises they gave to protect local content? How can they protect it? When they get the business they applied to us that they want to export the business and in the process, they refused to distribute the business to other players complaining that those players have no capacity and in connivance with some intermediaries whom they gave 0.5 percent even when the company is capable to take up to five per cent.
“Operators and interested parties will present all those arguments and we as regulators, we are not interested in the debate that will not add value to what we are trying to do or anything that will not enhance the growth of the industry.
“Regulators like umbrella view, we see what everybody does and we have the facts. If any investor had wanted any fact about his company from us, we would have given him. There is no doubt that every investor has the right to demand the fact about his company. Of course, if you are a public quoted company, your information should be available for your investors,” he added.
He charged shareholders to always demand to know what is happening to their investments instead of blaming the regulators for the situation of their firms. “Have they asked why they are not being paid dividend? Have they asked why the expenses are very high? But they are blaming regulators, No! Your responsibility as shareholders is to ensure your management does a good job and pay good dividend.
“May be they are not asking questions as I said because every year is the right season and everything is taken care of at the expense of their dividends or maybe they have decided to compromise and condone whatever the operators of their business are doing,” NAICOM boss said.
On the tier-based minimum solvency capital requirements which has led to the classification of insurance industry into three categories of tier one, tier two and tier three, Kari said the project is not a recapitalization project and that no insurance firm is mandated to inject fresh funds.
He noted that as it is in the other part of the world, any company can operate in any of these tiers and succeed, but added that whatever tier level any firm wants to play, is a choice of the board of the company.
“The TBMSC is not a recapitalisation project and it is not a capitalisation project. We believe like it happens all over the world, a company can operate in any of these and succeed. But whether you operate in whatever tier level you want to, is your choice and if you believe everybody will end up there, that will be your achievement. If it will happen, it will be a welcome development because there is nothing wrong in having financially capable players. There nothing bad in having technically capable players in the industry for the better of the business and the nation’s economy at large.
“Our industry is a dynamic creature. It revolves and manages itself, develops itself and reconstructs itself as it goes along. If we decide as an industry to imbibe the culture of corporate behaviour; imbibe the culture of corporate governance; imbibe the culture of working for our investors, it will be better for us,” Kari advised.
