Insurance regulator, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has stopped Guinea Insurance Plc from taking new businesses into its portfolio pending when it appoints a substantive Managing Director, as well as secures relevant reinsurance treaties to back its risks underwriting.

This development BusinessDay can authoritatively reveal took effect from Tuesday January 1, 2019.

A source in the industry who preferred not to be mentioned said, NAICOM may have taken the decision to forestall negative reputational risks, over inability to meet claims obligations, a challenge the regulator is bent on fighting headlong.

Guinea had in April announced the appointment of Babatunde Oshadiya as the managing director of the company with effect from 15th of February; 2018.The appointment was yet to get NAICOM’s approval.

Guinea Insurance Company Limited was established on December 3, 1958. The overseas shareholders held 51 percent majority shares before the indigenization decree of 1976 reversed the holding to 60 percent Nigerian interest, 40 percent overseas.

The overseas shareholders divested their 40 percent holding to existing Nigerian shareholders in 1988, thereby making the company 100 percent Nigerian. The company was listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange on January 17, 1991.

Chrome Oil Services Limited owns 45 percent of the company’s issued share capital. Chrome is ultimately controlled by Emeka Offor.

Modestus Anaesoronye is a leading Nigerian financial journalist with over two decades of experience reporting on the insurance and pension sectors across Nigeria and West Africa. He has held key editorial positions at major national media outlets, including The Comet, The Nation, and Financial Standard, and currently serves as a Senior Financial Analyst at BusinessDay Media Ltd. A widely travelled reporter, he has covered industry developments in more than 14 countries across Africa and Asia. Anaesoronye is a multiple award-winning journalist, honoured several times as Insurance Journalist of the Year and Pension Journalist of the Year by recognised industry bodies, including PensionScope and the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp), among others.

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