With less than 35 days to the July 31 recapitalization timeline set by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) for insurance companies in the country, the Nigerian Insurance Association (NIA) on Monday confirmed that more than 70% of the risk underwriting firms had completed their verification exercise as directed by the commission.
The Chairman of the Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA), Mrs. Ebelechukwu Nwachukwu, who made this disclosure during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said the exercise had progressed, with most insurance companies already completing one of the most critical requirements – the independent verification of their capital positions.
Nwachukwu said the insurance companies had paid for the verification processes and that more than 70 per cent of the companies, including her own company, had been verified.
According to her, since December 2025, insurers have been submitting monthly reports to industry regulatory commission detailing changes in their capital positions based on business activities, claims settlements, and asset transactions, enabling the regulator to monitor compliance throughout the exercise.
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She also said that the insurance companies were also required to lodge 10% of the new minimum capital requirement as statutory deposits with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and that most of the companies were already meeting the obligation and submitting evidence of compliance to the NAICOM.
To support her claim, the NIA chairman confirmed that independent verification was also being conducted by auditors from KPMG, PwC, Deloitte and EY as NAICOM is expected to announce the outcome of the recapitalisation exercise after the July 31 deadline.
Nwachukwu said that the commission had been discussing with companies facing capital shortfalls to ensure an orderly transition that protects policyholders and expressed optimism that the recapitalization exercise would help in creating a stronger, well-capitalised insurance industry as well encourage mergers and acquisitions among the industry operators.
It would be recalled that the recapitalisation exercise was introduced by NAICOM for the purposes of strengthening the financial capacity of insurance companies by ensuring they meet higher minimum capital requirements, with the attendant implications for improving the industry’s resilience and ability to settle claims.
Over the past months, the industry regulatory commission has maintained that the compliance with the July 31, 2026 recapitalisation deadline will be enforced, ruling out any extension for insurance companies yet to meet the revised capital requirements.
Last May, the Commissioner for Insurance, Olusegun Omosehin, maintained that the NAICOM was fully committed to stabilizing the insurance industry for the purposes of improving its contributions to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth on a sustainable basis.
Industry experts anticipate that the recapitalisation programme will help to improve insurers’ capacity to underwrite larger risks, enhance claims-paying ability, boost public confidence in the sector, and position Nigerian insurance companies to compete more effectively both locally and internationally.
The recapitalization exercise followed the enactment of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act, 2025, which increased the minimum capital thresholds for the operators in the industry.
Based on the provisions of the legislation, non-life insurers are required to raise their minimum capital from N3 billion to N15 billion, life insurers from N2 billion to N10 billion, while reinsurers must increase theirs from N10 billion to N35 billion.
