Kathmandu. KATHMANDU: Nepal Insurance Authority (NEA) has urged insurance companies to appoint Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
NEA has sent a letter to the companies on March 29 urging them to appoint a DCEO. As per the Corporate Good Governance Directive, 2080, the DCEO should be appointed within three months of the vacancy. Even after 2 years of the implementation of this provision, the authority has not been able to implement this provision regarding the appointment of DCEO. Despite the clear provision in the directive, the post of DCEO has been vacant in some insurance companies for more than 3 months.
Among the micro insurers, Protective Micro Insurance and Liberty Micro Life Insurance, Himalayan Everest Insurance and MetLife Insurance are vacant. Damodar Bhandari has been appointed as the Assistant Chief Executive Officer of Nepal Reinsurance Insurance. Sudarshan Kumar Shrestha has been appointed as the Assistant General Manager of Himalayan Everest Insurance Company after the CEO.
Similarly, Abhim Dongol has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of Protective Micro Insurance. Digvijay Singal, Chief Operating Officer, is working under the Chief Executive Officer of Liberty Micro Life Insurance.
In the event of a vacancy in the Chief Executive Officer, the Authority has made the provision related to the Deputy Chief Executive in Directive 18 of the Institutional Good Governance Directive to prepare a candidate from within the organization or to assign the responsibility on a temporary basis. The absence of a deputy chief executive for a long time within the institutional structure of the insurer, which has to make policy decisions, can mean that the entire company’s operations and control may be in jeopardy in the event of an unexpected vacancy in the chief executive position.
Employees working within the organization are not immediately given the responsibility of leadership. There is also a risk of confusion along with vacuum at the top management level due to the limitations of both decision-making capacity and authority. Employees of the general manager or departmental manager level are taking the work of DCO level, saying that the expenses of salary will increase while appointing the deputy chief executive or promoting the working employees.
Director and Spokesperson of the Insurance Authority, Pujan Dhungel Adhikari, said that a letter has been sent to all insurance companies to implement the DCEO provision. “The letter has been sent to all the companies,” she said, adding, “Most of the companies have already implemented the DCEO provision.” After this letter, the remaining companies should also implement it. ’
