Bisi Bamishe
National lnsurance Commission (NAICOM) has been adviced to ensure that the newly commissioned NAICOM Portal is connected to other government databases in order to provide value added services to all Insurance Industry stakeholders.
The minister of finance, budget and planning, Zainab Ahmed gave the advice at the commissioning of NAICOM portal in Abuja today.
According to her, the portal should be connected to other government databases like the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) NIN Database, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) Passport Database, Nigeria Integrated Customs Information system, FRSC’s National Vehicle Identification System, the National Vehicle Registry, State licensing databases among others, in order to enhance revenue generation.
She noted that dwindling government revenue profile demands that the Commission must look into ways of increasing its revenue through the use of technology and the Portal in particular.
The Commission, she added must put in place mechanisms to ensure insurance companies meet their obligations to policyholders by paying claims promptly as that is the major reason they exist in the first place. Claims payment determines the valuable structure of the industry in the economy.
Ahmed stated, “l want to encourage the industry to adopt new and disruptive technologies like mobile technology, cloud computing, Artificial intelligence, Blockchain, Data Analytics and Internet of things in driving and supporting its business”.
She commended the Commission for being in the forefront of this and for incepting initiatives in this direction including Guidelines for Web Aggregators and Regulatory Sandbox, introduction of BIMA Lab Insurtech Accelerator Program.
However, she called for the need for a regulatory framework for Insurtech companies to guide and supervise their operation without inhibiting their innovation.
According to the Commissioner for lnsurance, Sunday Thomas NAICOM in July 2009, embarked on a comprehensive computerization effort tagged project e-regulation that was meant to transform its operational procedures and the conduct of its regulatory responsibilities by providing a robust, world class ICT Infrastructure to help implement an automated business processes internally and for industry wide supervision via an integrated platform.
Prior to this development, he explained that the processing of applications required that applicants physically drop off their applications at the Commission with the attendant challenges of delays in processing times, wasted manpower hours due to back-and-forth in application processing as well as ineffective application tracking system.
With the completion of the portal there will be process efficiency and faster processing time as applications and supporting documents are submitted online, applicant’s account is updated with the status of the application as it progresses and there is effective real-time communication between NAICOM and the applicant
The Portal also provides a platform for interconnectivity by all industry stakeholders to support real-time aggregation of data on policies at the time of underwriting and policy issuance. Each policy will be issued with a unique policy ID that will be associated with the policy for the life time of the policy.
