In a bid to ward off quakes and reduce prevalence of fake marine insurance policies in Nigeria, the insurance industry is set to digitalise the certificate issued to customers.
On this note, the insurers have secured the approval of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to go ahead with the plan.
Besides, it is already working with some partners like the NIBBS to drive marine insurance through the USSD code, as it has done with motor insurance policies.
Marine insurance business, usually reported together with aviation risks in insurers digest, contributed N22.09 billion in 2017, while N5.98 billion was paid as claims during the same period.
Tope Smart, chairman of NIA, who disclosed this during an interactive session with journalists in Lagos on Tuesday, said the effort would check and eradicate fake insurance in marine business, and more importantly restore consumer confidence in insurance.
“If people get the right cover, they will get their claims paid when the risk crystallises, and will definitely bring back to insurance,” Smart said.
According to Smart, “Getting this approval is a big development for the insurance industry, as this will enhance premium growth for the industry.”
Having achieved some level of progress with motor insurance since it took off in June 2012, the scheme is poised to bring down the level of fraud in marine insurance business, which the industry say is costing the sector huge millions of naira.
NIA says experts have been engaged to come up with appropriate package under its existing Nigerian Insurance Industry Data Base (NIID) that would ensure smooth take off the marine business, being the second phase of the initiative after motor insurance.
NIID is targeting elimination of fake insurance documents, which has denied Nigeria the social and economic benefits of genuine insurance transactions. NIID is an Information Technology-based system that will facilitate easy collation and dissemination of statistical and other information relating to insurance on one hand, and also serve as a vehicle for easy identification of genuine insurance documents.
