By Nike Popoola

Thursday, 3 Feb 2011

The National Insurance Commission has ordered operators in the industry to fully disclose details of transactions above prescribed limits to the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit in line with the provisions of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004.

The operators are also to report to the NFIU within seven days, any single cash transaction, lodgement or transfer of funds in excess of N1m or its equivalent in the case of an individual, or N5m or its equivalent in the case of a corporate body.

Failure to file the cash transaction report, according to the 2011 guideline for the insurance industry, will attract various penalties as contained in the relevant laws.

According to NAICOM, the categories of operators that must comply with the new directive are insurers, re-insurers, insurance brokers and the loss adjusters, who are to file all suspicious transactions and the amounts involved with the NFIU within seven days of such transactions.

The operators have also been mandated to appoint compliance officers, who will not be below the rank of an assistant general manager, to monitor and ensure compliance with all anti-money laundering laws, regulations and guidelines.

The Commissioner for Insurance, Mr. Fola Daniel, said, “All the operators shall display visibly in all their operation centres nationwide, the provisions of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004, regarding their duty to file cash transaction reports and suspicious transaction reports with the NFIU, and forward copies to the National Insurance Commission.”

According to NAICOM, for the purpose of effective industry compliance, where neither cash transaction in excess of the limit prescribed nor any suspicious transaction is recorded, the operators will be required to file a nil return on a monthly basis to the NFIU and copy the commission.

Meanwhile, the Managing Director, Niger Insurance Plc, Mr. Justus Uranta, has said that the Nigerian Insurers Association will give adequate support to bank-owned insurance companies in their bid to comply with the directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria to divest from non-banking businesses under the new banking regime.

Uranta said at a press conference in Lagos on Wednesday, that the industry could not afford to allow any insurance company to go down at a time like this, when insurance was gaining acceptance with the public.

He said that insurance practitioners were prepared to assist the bank subsidiaries in their bid to merge with or be acquired by other companies where necessary.

“Although we will consider the issue of due diligence in the mergers and acquisitions, we have to ensure that we reduce the high unemployment rate in the country, which is not good for our economy,” he said.

Source: Punch