The National Insurance Commission has released new guidelines on the Minimum Capital Requirement for insurance and reinsurance companies in Nigeria, marking a major step toward implementing sweeping reforms in the industry.

The directive follows the passage of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act 2025, and is aimed at facilitating the smooth and effective enforcement of the newly established capital thresholds for operators across the sector.

According to the NIIRA 2025, the minimum capital base for non-life insurers has been raised to N15 billion, while the capital requirement for life insurance firms is now at least N10 billion.

Reinsurance companies got the steepest increase, with their capital threshold now pegged at N35 billion.

In a circular on Monday, the commission’s Director of Supervision Directorate, Oluwatoyin  Charles, said the framework is designed to strengthen the industry, enhance financial soundness, and ensure seamless implementation of the new capital thresholds.

NAICOM stressed that compliance with the NIIRA 2025 is mandatory and warned it would strictly enforce provisions of the law against any insurer or reinsurer in default.

NAICOM directed all insurers to submit their recapitalisation plans to the commission on or before September 30, 2025.

The commission said the submission must include a board resolution on compliance, capital status as at the 2024 audited financial statements and June 2025 second-quarter returns, a statement on statutory deposits with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and a detailed action plan on sources and timelines for fresh capital injection.

“Insurers intending to seek funds from the Capital Markets are required to submit their plan of action on a file-and-use basis,” NAICOM said.

“Insurer that intends to merge or acquire another shall submit their proposal, after which they must comply with the relevant provisions of these Guidelines and extant insurance laws.

“Portfolio Transfer and Run-Off Plan where a composite company that chose to discontinue a particular category of insurance business.”

NAICOM also mandated firms to file monthly recapitalisation progress reports not later than 10 working days after each month-end.

“The progress report shall include the MCR status of the insurer computed in line with the Template for MCR, achieved milestones, and efforts made to meet the recapitalisation plan,” the circular said.

“Where an insurer has met the required MCR, it shall continue to submit the recomputed MCR status at the end of each month until the issuance of a licence, or such other time as the Commission may determine.

“All assets’ disposals, including the sales proceeds and their applications during and after the recapitalisation exercise, shall be clearly disclosed and reported in the monthly and quarterly reports.”

According to the guidelines, capital verification exercises will begin on November 1 and conclude no later than June 30, 2026.

Insurers are expected to provide evidence of ownership, title, and valuation of admissible assets, supported by actuarial reports.

Also, insurers are to submit evidence of statutory deposit with CBN on or before May 30, 2026.

The commission said the final compliance deadline is on July 30, 2026.

On September 4, the Securities and Exchange Commission said it has created a dedicated desk to fast-track approvals for insurance sector recapitalisation.

SEC said the commission will deliver decisions within 14 days of complete submissions.