NAICOM Urged To Give Brokers New License

The Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers had earlier said that many insurance brokers were operating without registering with either the NAICOM or the council.

Some firms, however, have appealed to the National Insurance Commission to approve their licenses so as to enable them to operate professionally as insurance brokers while contributing their quota to the development of insurance in the country.

Sometime last year, it was reported that some firms who are yet to receive their license sent in their application form. The operators, however, said it would be logical for NAICOM to consider the applications as part of efforts to deepen insurance penetration in Nigeria.

The commissioner said it found out that some of the brokers had registered the companies with the Corporate Affairs Commission before they approached NAICOM for licensing and they had been doing business.

While the commission had approved new licenses for some of them, he said some others were yet to be approved, while others were asked to change the directors they presented.

Some industry experts said that it would do the industry a lot of good if brokers who were ready to abide by the regulations of the commission would be given consideration.

They also appealed to the commission to pardon those who had been operating before NAICOM’s approval and encourage them to do the right thing by giving them prompt approval.

According to them, it will be better to give fines for minor offenses than totally refusing to give new licenses.