• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Brokerage fraternity pledges professionalism, ethical practice

The Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance (NCRIB) has described as calculated attempt to malign its members in a report published on front page of a Nigerian newspaper, not Business Day captioned “Insurance Brokers Undermine No Premium No Cover Rule” on Wednesday, July 21, 2021.

The Council noted with dismay the malicious attempt to discredit Registered Insurance Brokers in spite of constant training on professionalism and efforts of its strong and potent Investigation and Disciplinary Panel saddled with the responsibility to guard members against unwholesome practices.

According to the Council, the report failed to put into consideration the ethics of Journalism that provides opportunity for fair hearing of all concerned parties before such a report could be published, stressing that neither the Council nor National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) was contacted for proper verification of the allegation before heading to the press.

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“While this act, if true, is totally condemned by the Council of NCRIB, we wish to state appositely that no duly registered member of the NCRIB will engage in such unprofessional act as our members are constantly trained on professionalism and there are strong and potent Investigation and Disciplinary Panels in place to guard against unwholesome, unprofessional and unethical practices, if found amongst its members.

“While not wishing off the newspaper report, it is a bit of concern that the so called Insurance Brokers were not unveiled in the report, thus making it near impossible for the Council to identify and call such culprit to order.

“We equally found it distasteful that the report could appropriate the misconduct of a single alleged Broker to the collective of Brokers, making our Council feel there is mischief intent behind the report.

“We take this opportunity to appeal to underwriting firms (Insurance Companies), in case of future occurrence, to first consider making a formal report of such erring broking firms to the Council, in order to trigger the disciplinary panel towards bringing such firms to book, if found culpable.

“The NCRIB is committed to ensuring a trustworthy Insurance Industry by collaborating with not only the underwriting arm, but also other Insurance trade groups, Insurance consumers, as well as the regulatory body, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM)”, NCRIB stated