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Insurers lose over $70m to fake brown card

By BusinessNews Staff on January 23, 2014

Insurance managers across the Economic Community of West African States lose about $70 million to the menace of fake brown cards operators, Secretary General, Nigerian National Bureau, ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme, Mrs. Henrietta Anyanna has said.

Anyanna who stated this while addressing the media in Lagos recently attributed the loss to low level of awareness which has been the bane of insurance growth in most countries across the region.
She noted that in the Nigerian Market, Brown Card Premium Income has skyrocketed from N3.5million in 2010 to N8.5million in 2012 and about N10million in 2013, adding that other member states have recorded significant rise in premium income figures thereby enhancing the liquidity and increased the capacity of the National Bureaux to meet their financial obligations.

She said the scheme was designed among others to, guarantee victims of road accident within the sub region fair and prompt payment for damages including bodily injury caused to Nationals of a West African country by non -resident motorists from other ECOWAS member states; promote trade and cultural integration among the countries in the West African sub region; develop international links and exchange as well as the extension of the insurance market within the sub region; establish a common system for claims settlement which will lead to harmonisation between the member states, laws and regulation governing motor insurance and offer a scheme similar to the successful International Insurance Schemes in force in Europe (Green Card Scheme), in Central African sub region (Pink Card Scheme) and in the Arab Countries (Yellow Card Scheme).

“The Brown Card Insurance Scheme is basically a Third Party Liability Cover whereby members undertake to provide compensation for accidental damage to property, bodily injury and death arising from the use of motor vehicle within the sub region. Property include motor vehicles, buildings, and belongings of third party accident victims.

“The level of awareness is still very low. A lot of people do not know where to procure the document. As a result they fall into the hands of fraudsters from whom they collect fake certificate and end up being caught and sent to jail in neighboring countries
“The National Bureaux in various countries have made substantial contribution towards raising public awareness. Enlightenment for the scheme is actually a continuous process. We believe that greater awareness for the scheme can be achieved if ECOWAS Brown Card becomes compulsory as it is in the francophone countries,” she added.

[Vanguard]

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