Unqualified Brokers May be Kicked Out in January – NCRIB Boss

Worried by the negative image trailing the brokerage arm of the insurance industry occasioned by accusations from the underwriting arm about premium withholding and other unethical practices, the National Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) has threatened to withdraw the registration of some members from its register in order to maintain a register of only credible members. Disclosing this recently, the council president, Alhaji Teslim Sanusi stated that the move became necessary in compliance with NCRIB Act No 10 of 2003. Consequently, interested brokers have been given up to the end of December to meet the required conditions ahead of the January date when names of default firms would be published. He stated that when the clean up exercise is completed, interested members who wish to continue with insurance broking business must be an associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria or identical body outside Nigeria recognised by the institute. In addition they must posses a certificate issued by the council which will only be duly issued after passing examination prescribed by the Council of Insurance Brokers. Henceforth, he said, insurance brokers, must posses the certificate of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria as an insurance broker in addition to being chief executive of an insurance broking firm duly registered under the insurance decree of 1997. Sanusi who pledged his determination to lead the council rightly stated that the NCRIB would continue to defend the rights and interest of its members no matter the stress involved. As a way of raising the experience level of members as well as sharing in the experience of their colleagues in the diaspora, the council, having returned from its delegate’s conference to the United Kingdom, was working on the possibility of visiting South Africa for similar mission. Sanusi reiterated that “management has seen the need to project the council positive light through an effective registration of members,” adding that the move was backed by section 6(1) of the NCRIB Act. He acknowledged that the council’s effort at standardizing its practice has been yielding positive results citing the reversal of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) which has reversed its earlier stand that brokers pay certain registration fee before it can do business with it. He stated that the council will continue to resist moves by professional bodies to charge such Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has been reverted. It would be recalled that DPR had earlier increased registration fee of brokers from N25, 000 to N750, 000, an action the brokers saw as exploitative