Six weeks to the December 31 deadline given to insurance and reinsurance companies to attain 50 per cent new capital threshold, only 21 insurance firms out of 58 have so far met the mandate, LEADERSHIP can exclusively reveal.
Similarly, NAICOM had earlier extended the deadline for insurance and reinsurance companies to meet its new capital requirements to September 30, 2021 from December 31, 2020. Insider sources revealed that 14 other insurers are on the verge of meeting the 50 per cent new capital threshold and could meet up in the next three weeks or so, while the remaining 23 underwriters are still lagging behind, as they continue to struggle to convince new investors to boost their capitalisation to the new benchmark in the ongoing exercise.
Earlier, some managers of some insurance companies were appealing to NAICOM to waive the first phase of its segmented recapitalisation for the insurance and reinsurance companies scheduled to end by December 31, 2020. The operators acknowledged the huge impact of COVID-19 on the financial services sector and the national economy at large, coupled with the situation that was worsened by losses from the nationwide #EndSARS protests.