The House of Representatives has ordered the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to suspend the December 31, 2020 deadline given to insurance and reinsurance firms to increase their minimum paid-up capital.
The House resolution followed a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by Hon. Benjamin Kalu on the need to suspend the proposed recapitalisation in view of the pandemic and the recession being experienced in the country.
Kalu recalled that the law establishing NAICOM empowers it to regulate the sector and to prescribe minimum paid up share capital for insurance firms and intermediaries.
He said the commission issued a circular No. NAICOM /DPR/CIR/25/2019 dated May 20, 2019, prescribing a minimum paid-up share capital for insurance and reinsurance firms and effectively increased the minimum paid-up share capital for insurance and reinsurance firms.
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According to him, the original deadline for the minimum paid-up share capital was May 29, 2019, for new firms, while, June 30, 2020 was to apply to existing firms, adding: “The changes to the minimum paid-up share capital were as follows: Life Insurance ₦2 billion to ₦8 billion, General ₦3 billion to ₦10 billion, Composite ₦5 billion to ₦18 billion and Reinsurance ₦10 billion to ₦20 billion. This was later moved to December 30, 2020.”
Kalu argued that as a result of the pandemic, the deadline was shifted and two-phase recapitalisation programmes introduced.
 to suspend the December 31, 2020 deadline given to insurance and reinsurance firms to increase their minimum paid-up capital.){kind=link}