NICL eyes private partnership

KARACHI: National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) is prepared to enter partnership with private sector in different areas of insurance to increase its revenue and profits, its CEO Khalid Hameed said on Saturday.

Hameed, who took over as CEO in May last year, informed that the company had Rs52 billion investment portfolios, which it would operate within its limited capacity. "We have adopted all safe means to protect our investments made in different modes."

Federal Minister for Commerce and Investment Syed Naveed Qamar on visited NICL to review its operational and financial matters. Hameed briefed the minister on the company's operations, initiatives on its policy, restructuring, and revenue generation, besides projects in pipeline.

He said NICL was engaged in two categories of insurance; direct insurance and re-insure. “In addition to long list of insurance classes, the company was working on proving medical insurance cover.”

Hameed informed that NICL had witnessed significant growth in its revenue and profits, which would further increase in the coming days.

“Many new projects, also under Public Sector Development Programme (PSDPs) and China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), are coming to the company for insurance.”

He mentioned that it was mandatory for Chinese companies to reinsure their CPEC projects locally.

The minister directed NICL's CEO to appoint ad-hoc auditors at least till the constitution of the board of directors.

Federal Commerce Secretary Sualeh Ahmed Farooqi advised the NICL management to look at public sector projects to assess what business could the company get from. "You [NICL] should also work on Gwadar Port and its affiliated projects," he emphasized.

Hameed also presented comparison of his organisation with other insurance companies operating in the country. The Commerce minister appreciated NICL performance so far, offering his complete support to the company.