Justice Ofori
The National Insurance Commission (NIC) has urged insurance companies to meet the January 2022 recapitalisation deadline or lose their businesses.
According to the NIC, insurance companies who do not meet the deadline will be unable to conduct business activities such as renewal of policies or advertisement.
The move follows a decision by the NIC to see to the recapitalisation of insurance companies in the country.
The NIC announced the new minimum capital requirement in June 2019.
The recapitalisation increased the minimum capital requirement for life and non-life companies from GH¢15m to GH¢50m, while that of reinsurance companies was raised from GH¢40m to GH¢125m.
Insurance brokers also have their minimum capital increased from GH¢300,000 to GH¢500,000 while that of reinsurance brokers remained at GH¢1m.
Companies within the insurance sector were expected to have taken the necessary steps to meet the new capital requirement within two years by June 2021, however, the regulator extended the deadline by six months because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Commissioner of Insurance at the NIC, Justice Ofori said in an interview that insurance companies must ensure they meet the deadline.
“Some of them have met the deadline, others have also during the holidays recapitalised so we are going through all that documentation so we can give a clear figure of how many of them have done it so far.
“When we view your documents and we realise that you are not actually meeting the required minimum capital, then we will write to you and tell you that this is the shortfall so find resources to actually meet the deadline.
“If you are unable to achieve it by the deadline then that is when the enforcement action kicks in and we stop you from doing new business, stop you from renewing policies, stop you from advertising yourself and then we find a manager who will take over the company,” he said.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri