The Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) has disclosed that performance of the Insurance Industry shows significant progress in 2014 compared to previous years.
The CBL said working in collaboration with development partners as well as other local key stakeholders made significant stride in strengthening the legal, institutional, and regulatory framework of the insurance sector.
According to the CBL Annual Report of 2014, the new Insurance Law of 2013 was passed into law, replacing the 1973 Act and several new regulations, aimed at further strengthening the sector, including the new capital requirements which were also developed to be issued and published early 2015.
Accordingly the total assets of the insurance industry as at October 31, 2014 valued US$39 million and total liabilities are valued US$14.58 million. The CBL said gross premium was atUS$28 million.
The CBL also noted that there was also significant improvement observed in corporate governance, internal control, and risk management.
However, the CBL said due to the Ebola epidemic, the sector, like all other sectors of the economy, faced serious challenges, in terms of slowdown in acquiring new businesses and delinquency in premium payments during the year.At end-2014, the number of licensed insurance companies was 20, the CBL said.
The CBL Annual Report also disclosed that the current number of insurance companies reflects a significant reduction up from 24 prior to CBL taking over the regulation and supervision of the sector.
At the same time, CBL placed a moratorium on the licensing or entry of new companies in the insurance sector, which remains in force, the report said.
According to the Central Bank the moratorium is intended to safeguard the sector from oversaturation, which has the potential of undermining the viability of the sector.
Going forward, the Bank intends to implement measures aimed at further strengthening the sector; some of those measures will require consolidation and merger among existing companies, the report said.
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