By Favour Nnabugwu

The National Insurance Commission (NIC), has said that it has committed to ensuring that all insurers meet new minimum capital requirements by the 31 December compliance deadline.

The move will ensure that insurance companies operating in the country have sufficient funds to meet the obligations of their policyholders, said the head of NIC, Dr Justice Yaw Ofori.

In June 2019, the minimum capital requirement for life and non-life companies was increased to GHS50m ($8.2m) from GHS5m, to GHS 125m from GHS40m for reinsurance companies and to GHS500,000 from GHS300,000 for insurance brokers, while that of reinsurance brokers was maintained at GHS1m.

All companies in the sector were originally expected to meet the new capital requirement by June 2021. However, the deadline was extended to 31 December 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and its global economic effect