Kathmandu. It has been almost three years since the first National Insurance Policy 2080 was promulgated to guide Nepal’s insurance sector on the basis of long-term guidance.
The policy aims to bring accountability and transparency in the insurance sector while also promoting institutional governance in the insurance sector. The policy aims to formulate and implement a code of conduct for insurance regulatory bodies, insurers, insurance intermediaries and other insurance service providers.
A policy to enhance the regulatory capacity of the Insurance Authority of Nepal has been included for corporate governance. For this, work is underway to add manpower to the authority, increase the use of technology and develop infrastructure to monitor the activities of the insurer in real time.
It has adopted a policy to simplify and simplify the insurance claim and payment process. For this, the authority has directed the insurer to use technology so that the insured can be tracked and monitored by the end of January to inform the insured about every stage of the claim. For this, the information technology section of the authority has also taken a written commitment from the heads of the information technology department of the insurer.
In order to strengthen the internal control system of the insurer, which is considered necessary and important for institutional well-being, the authority has directed the management of the Board of Directors and the management level of the insurer to implement the provision of internal control committee and monitoring committee.
The National Insurance Policy has a provision to make provision for the insurer to bear social responsibility, but the Authority has implemented a provision that 1 percent of the profit must be spent on social responsibility. It has warned of action against the insurer who does not comply with this provision. Apart from this, the authority has also taken the policy of preventing the approval of the audit report of the insurer who collects the amount in the fund but does not spend it. This will force the insurer to spend.
The Authority has launched a transparency dashboard for the policy of maintaining accountability and transparency in the insurance sector. In this, the insurer has made arrangements for a transparency dashboard so that it is visible at the beginning on its official website. In this dashboard, important information such as the insurance business, claim payment status and branch network of the insurer are presented in figures and graphs so that the general public can understand.
The authority has implemented a risk-based supervision system in the insurance sector. It has implemented guidelines in this regard.
Under the policy of making the regulatory and monitoring system based on the latest information system, the authority has implemented the Insurance Regulatory Information Management System. The earmark of the fixed deposit of the insurer has been directly linked to the information management system of the authority in real time.
The authority is yet to work to control fraud and fraud in the insurance sector. For this, the Insurance Information Center has not been established as per the provisions of the Insurance Act 2079 and Insurance Rules 2081.
The authority has issued guidelines under the National Insurance Policy to discourage money laundering and terrorist activities that can take place through the insurance business. On-site and non-site inspection monitoring is being continued. Apart from this, the insurer has been directed to regularly report financial transactions and suspicious transactions above the limit to the Financial Information Center.
In order to make the grievance hearing process of the insurance sector effective, the Authority has made it mandatory to appoint a grievance hearing officer in the offices of all the insurers. The appointment of an information officer has also been made mandatory. Apart from this, the authority has not been able to implement the system of registering complaints online and informing each level about the progress of grievance hearing. The authority has also made arrangements for a portal for grievance hearing on its website.
The code of conduct of the intermediary has been issued to make the insured responsible and accountable to the insured. Its implementation aspect is a little weak. Still, there are still videos on social media (especially on Facebook and Tiktok) containing false and misleading information with the intention of misleading, luring and cheating the insured. The authority does not seem to be serious about stopping this.
Executive Director of Nepal Insurance Authority Sushil Dev Subedi said that the authority is also working to revise the Institutional Good Governance Directive from time to time. He said that preparations are also being made regarding the necessary policy provisions to make the directors representing the general public more responsible for the welfare of the insured and the general public.
