The company said it wants to ensure a clean balance sheet.

The Acting Managing Director, WAPIC Insurance Plc, on Wednesday announced that the company had settled N1.1 billion outstanding claims owed customers before 2012.

Mr. Desai disclosed this at an insurance brokers’ forum organised by the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) in Lagos. He said the company’s policy was to ensure a clean and healthy balance sheet in 2014.

“The backlog was two years’ claims owed various customers who have suffered insured losses prior to 2012,” he said. “Clearing it was part of the company’s management strategy to strengthen its financials in 2013.”

Mr. Desai said the payment was “part of the company’s transformation agenda that will span five years.

“Paying claim is essential to building public confidence in insurance and we will not play with it.”

He said that the company’s transformation agenda was aimed at serving the brokers and the customers efficiently. He said that WAPIC had re-invested in governance, operational structure and technology-driven capacity building.

Also speaking, Ayodapo Shoderu, NCRIB President, said the forum was a veritable platform for stakeholders in insurance to interact.

He said the council’s interest revolved around educating insurance underwriters on the need for prompt payment of claims.

Mr. Shoderu said that he was not happy that some companies were still defaulting in claims payment, while many underwriters were striving to adhere to the time frame.

He urged the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to be more stringent on underwriters’ obligation to insurance products consumers.

According to him, prompt payment of claims is imperative for the nation’s insurance industry to earn and sustain public confidence.

WAPIC Insurance is a subsidiary of Access Bank.

(NAN)