Unpaid claims worth Tk 6560cr against 81 insurance companies
Staff Reporter :
The total number of unsettled insurance claims is more than 11 lakh worth of Tk 6560 crore of eighty one insurance companies in the last year and the claim settlement rate in the insurance sector is around 30 percent, according to the data from Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA).
The total number of insurance claims was more than 30 lakh. Among them, nearly 19 lakh were life insurance and 19,877 are non-life. Insurance companies settled a total of more than 19 lakh claims. Still the total amount of unpaid claims is Tk 6,559.81 crore, the IDRA data revealed.
Around half of the insurance companies didn’t hold the minimum paid-up capital, according to IDRA unaudited data for 2021. As per the Insurance Act 2010, a life insurance firm must maintain a minimum paid-up capital of Tk 30 crore, which is Tk 40 crore for general insurance companies.
Because of record low claim settlement ratio, the number of new insurers is constantly decreasing at a significant pace. Two years ago, the total insurance policy number was 96 lakh 54 thousand which has decreased by 8 lakhs to 88 lakhs in the last two years.
Ghulam Rahman, president of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) said regarding unpaid claims that, many life insurance companies are deceiving people and the rural people are the main victim.
Some influential people took control of the companies and they misused and embezzled life funds. In recent times, some of the cases were detected too, he added.
In Bangladesh there are 81 insurance companies. Among them, there are 35 life and 46 non-life insurance companies. Investment in the sector stood at more than Tk 50,000 crore, and the sector employed 40,575 people directly and around 42,673 agents working in the sector.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the National Insurance Day-2023 to enhance public awareness about the insurance.
The Ministry of Finance along with Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA) jointly organised the programme, with the theme of “My life, my wealth, if insured, it will be safe (Amar Jibon, Amar Sampad, Bima Koriley, Thakbe Nirapod)”.
IDRA chairman Mohammad Jainul Bari, Bangladesh Insurance Association president SK Kabir Hossain and secretary to Financial Institutions Division Sheikh Mohammad Salim Ullah also spoke at the programme.
On March 1, 1960, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman started working for the then-Alpha Insurance Company. Therefore, the government has decided to celebrate March 1 as the National Insurance Day in every year.
