CIIG holds public lecture for insurance players on risk-based supervision, corporate governance

The former board member of the National Insurance Commission (NIC), Mr Emmanuel Mahama Baba says NIC should prioritise migrating into a full-blown risk-based supervision regime that allows for the computation of risk-based capital to ensure that insurers are able to price their risks and capital appropriately to cover risk charges.

The chartered accountant noted that having started risk-based supervision as a country, it is only prudent to adopt a risk-based capital which helps to align a company’s capital to its risk profile.

“This will help for the individuality of the needs of insurance companies to be addressed in order to ultimately make the industry a vibrant one,” he stated.

Mr Baba added that a cooling-off period is needed for the new capital regime which will allow the Commission to obtain technical support to establish a comprehensive risk-based capital regime, test it and buy-in from insurers before implementation.

“This waiting period will also enable current insurers where applicable to generate the additional capital through fresh funding and restructuring of their balance sheet,” he added.

Mr Baba said this at a public lecture organised by the Chartered Insurance Institute of Ghana (CIIG) under the theme, “The relevance of Minimum Capital Requirement (MCR) Increases Effective Risk-Based Supervision And Corporate Governance.”

This follows the National Insurance Commission’s sudden drift towards risk-based supervision which is aimed at enhancing the sustainability and responsiveness of industry players as well as the solvency framework for financial institutions in Ghana.

On globalization, he urges insurance companies to extend their tentacles to neighbouring countries if they are able to put their house to order.

The Deputy Commissioner of NIC, Mr Kofi Andoh hinted that as part its efforts to reform the industry, insurance companies will be required to publish their audited financial statements in the press.

He further stated that some companies will be given a period of twelve months and more to prepare during the cooling-off period.

A representative from the Ghana Insurance Association, Mr. Asafo Adjei urged the Commission to focus on individual investment companies before determining the capital requirement for each firm rather than a standard capital requirement for all insurance firms.

Mr. Kofi Ntim, a representative from the Actuarial Society of Ghana said, in determining the minimum capital requirement, global factors should be taken into consideration since the minimum capital requirement for other countries is lower than that of Ghana.