NAICOM Approves Wapic Insurance 2014 Accounts

Ebere Nwoji

The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has approved the 2014 financial report and accounts of Wapic Insurance Plc .

With the approval, which qualifies the underwriting firm to publish its financial statement for public consumption and to hold its annual general meeting, the company emerges the first insurance company to secure approval of its financial statement from the NAICOM for the year ended December 31 2014 in compliance with the International Finance Reporting Standard model of reporting.

Since the transition of Nigerian insurance industry from the General Accounting Reporting Standard to the International Finance Reporting Standard(IFRS), insurance firms find it difficult meeting deadline for submission and securing approval for their financial statements from the regulator.

In 2012, which was the first year of the transition, many insurance firms had their reports rejected while others were put on different status indicating that they not approved.

In the following year of 2013, only few companies managed to submit ahead of deadline. However, none submitted and secured approval in the first quarter of the year.

According to a statement by Wapic Insurance, it has emerged the first company to submit and secure approval of its financial report in the first quarter of the year since the insurance industry transition to IFRS.

Accord to a statement from the company, in the approved report, it outperformed estimated average industry growth rate of 15 per cent by returning a growth rate of 40 per cent on the gross written premium.

The statement further said Wapic Insurance is now a part of an elite group of three companies with a global risk rating, with a transformation programme on track.

A look at the audited results of the company submitted to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), showed that Wapic Insurance recorded gross premium of N5.2 billion, compared with N3.7 billion in 2013. Profit before tax stood at N58.5 million as against a loss of N629 million. Similarly, a profit after tax of N236 million was achieved up from a loss of N208 million in 2013.