As a testament to its commitment to responsible business practices, Wapic Insurance Plc. has emerged as one of 25 listed companies that recently attained the Corporate Governance Rating System (CGRS) certification.
With this, the company has again affirmed its industry leadership in sustainable business practices and status as front-liner in corporate governance in Nigeria, by occupying the same space with other leading global brands such as Unilever Nigeria Plc., Guinness Nigeria Plc., Access Bank Plc., PZ Cussons Nigeria and Nestle Nigeria.
In the latest rating result released by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on 22 January to all listed companies, the breakdown showed that 25 companies attained the CGRS certification mark of 70 percent. “These companies, in addition to the 8 that retained their CGRS rating from the pilot phase of 2015, brings the number of CGRS certified companies to 33”, noted Godstime Iwenekhai, Head, Listing Regulation Department, NSE.
Yinka Adekoya, Managing Director, Wapic Insurance plc. in response to the recent achievement said corporate governance is part of Wapic core corporate existence.
“As an organization that has corporate governance built into its internal procedures, practices and activities, this underscores our commitment to a strong governance structure. The established governance structure in Wapic Insurance ensures that controls are in place to protect our customers and investors along with our own reputation that is built on performance, transparency, efficiency and quality of service delivery,” stated Adekoya.
According to the CGRS performance update, Wapic Insurance obtained an aggregate score of 87.52% after aggregation of scores across the three stages of the CGRS, which is far above the 70% threshold.
The company’s strong performance is attributable to its deliberate and conscious efforts at institutionalizing an effective risk management and corporate governance framework in different facets of the company’s operations.
Similarly, as an organization founded on a progressive vision that seeks to transform and illuminate the insurance industry for the benefit of customers and other stakeholders, Wapic is excited that its latest corporate governance rating will improve the overall perception, and stakeholders’ trust in business practices within the insurance industry.
As part of its commitment to uphold sound Corporate Governance practices, and in compliance with the requirement of the NAICOM code of Corporate Governance, the Board of Wapic Insurance has established a system of independent annual assessment which is carried out by an independent consulting firm to evaluate its own performance, that of its Committees and individual Directors.
Launched in 2014 by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in conjunction with the Convention on Business Integrity (CBI), the CGRS rating system is based on a holistic multi-stakeholder approach that employs diverse information collection and verification approach, along the lines of Corporate Compliance, Fiduciary Awareness and Corporate Integrity; all of which are evaluated through self-assessments of companies and the independent annual assessments carried out by credible consultants.
