Kathmandu. Despite the high potential in the insurance market of Nepal, the claim payment process is still cumbersome, confusing and traditional.
According to a research article authored by Rastriya Banijya Bank’s Senior Assistant Pratigya Bhatta, the use of technology in the claim payment system has become essential for the development of Nepal’s insurance sector.
According to an article published in the 58th anniversary special issue of NEA, Lekhika Bhatta says, “Fast and transparent claim payment increases customer trust. This strengthens the insurance industry as a whole. However, in the context of Nepal, the report of the Nepal Insurance Authority has also pointed out the delay in claim payment, complexity and lack of transparency as the main challenges.
In Nepal, life insurance, non-life insurance and micro insurance have a decades-old process based on paper and human labor. Due to the high number of paperwork required for an insurance claim and the lack of financial literacy among the customer, the process can take months to finalize. Residents of rural and semi-urban areas are far away from the offices of insurance companies.
It takes days or weeks for skilled surveyors to reach remote areas to inspect the accident or damage. Customers do not know in real time what stage their claim has reached and why there are delays. In the absence of a robust digital certification system, insurance companies are also facing huge financial losses due to false and fake claims.
Giving the example of developed countries, author Bhatta has stressed that Nepal should learn from global practices. With the right use of technology, the time of claim payment can be reduced to a few minutes. g.
| How does it work? | |
| Digital Info | Documents can be submitted from the mobile app or web portal . Optical Character Recognition automatically collects the details of the document. |
| Artificial Intelligence | AI and machine learning can be used to quickly detect whether the claim is true or fake (fraud) and assess the risk. |
| Blockchain & Smart Contracts{ | Blockchain technology prevents documents from being forged and allows money to be sent automatically to a bank account without human intervention. |
| {{TAG_OPEN_b_50}Remote Sensing & Drone | In the field of agriculture and property insurance, the use of satellite or drone footage can be used to collect accurate damage data even in remote areas.TAG_OPEN_span_38 |
Although the benefits of using
technology are many, its implementation in Nepal is not easy. Poor internet connectivity and light problems in rural areas, lack of knowledge of digital technology among both insurance consumers and insurance employees, challenges of protecting customers’ sensitive details from cyber threats, and reluctance of employees working in old style to learn and adopt new technologies are some of the challenges of technology transformation.
Technology is the only alternative solution to make Nepal’s insurance sector customer-centric and effective.TAG_OPEN_p_54 For this, the Nepal Insurance Authority needs to prepare a strong legal and digital framework, while the insurance companies need to increase their investment in infrastructure, training and technology.
