The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has expressed its readiness to sanction any insurer that fail to upload daily operational transactions into the regulatory portal or with huge unsettled claims in the industry.

The Commissioner for Insurance, Sunday Thomas, who spoke at the 2022 Business Outlook Programme, organised by the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN), raised the concern, saying the insurance industry is currently lagging.

He said there is a need to reconsider the business model, re-evaluate its approach to the market and make the digital agenda a priority before the industry could contribute its quota maximally to the economy.

“To get this done in the industry, it will require a different set of skills, culture and operating model,” he said.

Thomas said every technology age has its challenges, stressing that there would be challenges facing the industry in the digital environment. He said the challenges include meeting the demands of the multi-generation customer base.

He noted that the fast-changing digital space, systems and technologies would lead to the need to reduce cost, data reliability, legacy technology and workforce training.

He said the commission was eager for a fully-digitized industry, adding that the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption and the use of digital technology in the industry.

“To this extent, on September 1, 2021, the regulator launched the portal and directed the effective and efficient utilization of the portal by all insurance companies who were directed to integrate, connect and upload five years historical data of all policies issued from January 1, 2016, and before March 1, 2021.

But today many of the operators are yet to upload their daily transactions much less their previous years’ records,” he posited.