Amaka Obiefuna

High Chief Dele Fajemirokun, a former Chairman of AIICO Insurance Plc is urging regulators of insurance and pension sectors to tone down on the guidelines meant to supervise the sectors.  Mr. Fajemirokun was speaking in Lagos at the 2nd National Conference on Insurance and Pension organised by the National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondents, (NAIPCO), he said for insurance and pension industries to move forward, there was need for bureaucracy to be eliminated and reduction in rules, which favours opportunities to generate funds.

His words: “There is need to avoid complexity in regulation with a focus on judgement-led regulation instead of rules-based regulation. Regulators should seek to attract the best talents exemplified by the Bank of England and United State FED, where they recruit the best talents from industry and academia; in some cases, a foreigner such as the Bank of England governor.”

He said: “The regulated firms in insurance and pensions say they do not object in principle to being regulated, but there are frequent and vociferous complaints from them, and indeed from the public, about how regulation is being applied in practice, either it is too strict or not strict enough depending on their perspective.”

The foremost industrialist canvassed for joint thinking, transparency, fairness, while addressing issues like bureaucracy, pull me down syndrome prevalent in the third world, complexity, over prescriptive leading to compliance fatigue and cost of compliance.

Mr Fajemiroun advised that the insurance and pension industries needed to keep investing in capacity building initiatives especially in support of actuary students, adding that both industries, together, must accept the burden of responsibility for drawing attention to care for the elderly in our midst.

He said “There should be a government actuary’s department that will support effective decision-making and robust reporting, providing the necessary advice to government on policies to assist both industries.  “This is a call to the policymakers to recognise that growing old makes one an endangered species in this country and therefore laws should be passed to protect the aged.