The Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) has stressed the need for stakeholders to explore the option of digital collection to track underwriting companies that fail to pay claims to policyholders.

This was revealed during the inauguration of the 26th president of the association, Kunle Ahmed, in Lagos.

Ahmed said digital collection and tracking of claims payments would delight customers and reduce insurance fraud.

He argued that insurance companies only issue a promissory note after entering into a transaction, with the test of the promise only taking place when a claim is declared, noting that the question is no longer find out whether or not insurance companies pay claims.

In 2023, he said, the industry paid N536.5 billion in claims, a growth of 54 per cent compared to claims paid in 2022.

He said that despite the feat achieved in claims payment, there is still work to be done as companies would not be able to maximize the budget spent on advertising and media campaigns without paying attention to the ease of presentation of claims. a complaint and improving the complaints process.

“We will work with market participants to self-regulate and enforce market best practices among members, from onboarding a customer to paying claims. We must continually look for a reason to pay compensation, rather than looking for a reason not to. In addition, we will also focus on the following points,” he said.