By Sola Alabadan
In appreciation of his contributions to the success of the institution, the College of Insurance Supervisors of West African Monetary Zone (CISWAMZ) has given awards to the Commissioner for Insurance and Chief Executive Officer of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Olorundare Thomas.
The award was presented to the NAICOM boss at the ongoing 5th meeting of the College in Abuja on Tuesday.
The award is in recognition of Thomas’s pioneering role in the establishment and eventual take-off of the college as Chairman of the West Africa Insurance Supervisors Association (WAISA).
Similarly, Mr. Pius Agboola, the Director Inspectorate at NAICOM, who served as the pioneer Chairman of the College, was also honoured with an award at the meeting.
The CISWAMZ was established with the purpose of providing a common platform for regulators from the WAMZ countries to come together to discuss how to oversee individual and cross border financial institutions in the Zone.
By coming together in a structured way, supervisors are able to learn from each other and develop best practice on supervision across national boundaries. The Charter establishing the College was ratified by the Committee of Governors of the WAMZ on 31 July, 2010. On 7 February 2019, the CSWAMZ Charter was revised to reflect the dynamic developments in the banking sectors of the WAMZ.
The main objectives of the CSWAMZ include: to facilitate the exchange of information, views and assessments among supervisors in order to allow for a more efficient and effective consolidated and solo supervision and timely action.
It is also aimed at enabling supervisors to develop a common understanding of the risk profile of the group as the starting point for risk based supervision at both group and solo levels; as well as to achieve coordination of supervisory review and risk assessment, establishing supervisory plans, arranging any division of tasks and joint onsite visits, thus avoiding duplication of work and reducing the regulatory burden.
Besides, CISWAMZ coordinates decisions taken by individual authorities; contribute to a consistent implementation of WAMZ directives and to the convergence of Member States supervisory practices across the WAMZ; while facilitating the implementation/operationalisation of the memorandum of understanding between and among various supervisory authorities within the WAMZ.
Additionally, the college seeks to reduce regulatory duplication and inconsistency improve subsequent bilateral dialogue between regulators, increase levels of trust and enhance the cooperation of supervisors.
