Institute of Loss Adjusters of Nigeria (ILAN) is urging its members to quickly key into the new National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) portal, stating that it will drive improved regulation and efficiency in the industry.
Reginald Egbuniwe, president/chairman of Council of ILAN who commented on the new NAICOM portal during its AGM held in Lagos said the present leadership of NAICOM has embarked on very positive steps to promote the quality and efficiency of the insurance industry, for the benefit of consumers and the national economy.
“The most recent of these and the one which is poised to take regulation to the next level in the country is the implementation of the NAICOM portal through which we are to now interact with the Commission when it comes to renewal of licences among other activities.”
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Egbuniwe said the commissioner for Insurance at a recent event expressed his concern at the low level of usage by the insurers especially with regard to the upload of new policies.
“It is also expected that loss adjusters use this portal to upload claims related information which hitherto had been provided manually. This development demonstrates that the regulator is taking the lead in acquiring data which it can use to make more informed decisions.”
“On our part, we must possess sufficient knowledge on the usage of the portal so that we are not found wanting in keeping up with the pace of the Commission, Egbuniwe stated.
“With full functionality of the portal available, loss adjusters can access the portal to query policy information. It would be more beneficial to ILAN if loss adjusters could access data not only related to policy information but also claims and other related financial information which would give us a tool for organisational planning.”
He said “changing the way we as loss adjusters operate is a big undertaking requiring significant effort, but those of us that make this shift could see a significant drop in our expense ratio and in turn, we should be able to increase delivery speed, accuracy and service efficiency. Those of us that fail to adapt and make this transformation are likely to lose any competitive advantage we may currently possess.
One of the key pillars to any change in the way we operate both as an institute and as individual member companies, is the way we use our data.
Over the year we had tried to put in place infrastructure and processes that would allow our members harness the data they have generated through their routine professional activities.
According to him initial resistance was met which we believe was due to poor communication and sensitization on our part.
“We are however committed to pushing an agenda for data collection as we can see the inherent value in the data we produce. Currently we have to provide some of this data to the regulator NAICOM as part of our statutory obligations, however we should not lose sight of the bigger picture which is a data reliant world where all major decisions are data driven.”
I believe that as an Institute with control over its data we can create leverage for our members which will give us on edge in our operations, Egbuniwe assured her members.
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