The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has urged the insuring public to go and get their unclaimed insurance settlements from the underwriting companies.
The insurance regulator spoke at the end of the Insurers’ Committee meeting in Lagos.
At the meeting, Chief Executive Officers of insurance companies said there were claims filed by some policyholders, but unpaid due to incomplete documentation.
The spokesperson, NAICOM, Razaaq Salami, said, “There are outstanding claims which we cannot quantify and we are trying to deal with those issues of outstanding claims. We want to ensure that we have a market that the policyholders and the general public, and even we, in the system will be proud of.
“That is why we have come up with this idea that, if you have outstanding claims payable, put out a publication to say, if you have outstanding claims with any insurance company; go to that company with your documentation so that that claims can be settled”.
The Chairman, Publicity Sub-Committee, Insurers’ Committee, Mrs Ebelechukwu Nwachuwu, said the regulator noted that there were many outstanding claims.
She said, “Initially, the regulator had encouraged companies to do publications on claims that have not been settled because there are a lot of claims that are reported, supporting documents are not provided.
“They remain as outstanding claims and some of the insurance companies books have also been provided for, so the regulator advised the companies to advertise unpaid claims.
“The decision was that this should be done on the platform of the Nigerian Insurers Association for the first three months to encourage people who have claims to contact their insurance companies and after three months, we will see the impact of that and see what is still outstanding and then, the companies may be mandated to do this individually”.