Kathmandu. The government has appointed Dr. Rajan Bikram Thapa, former executive director of Nepal Rastra Bank, as the chairman of Nepal Insurance Authority. Thapa, who has completed his dissertation on the impact of institutional governance on risk management in Nepalese banks, has a major challenge on his shoulders to establish institutional governance in insurance companies.
The Insurance Authority has got the executive chairman for a full 4-year term only after more than a year. After the then chairman Sharad Ojha was sacked on Bhadra 2, 2082 due to a dispute regarding eligibility, the authority was running on the basis of joint secretaries of various ministries. Ojha was appointed by the UML-Congress coalition government on Fagun 12, 2081.
The newly appointed Chairman Thapa is an experienced central banking professional with nearly three decades of experience in Nepal Rastra Bank. He has held important responsibilities in the areas of banking regulation and supervision, risk management, corporate planning, policy implementation and corporate governance in the NRB.
Prior to his appointment as Chairman, he was also working as Executive Director in the Corporate Planning and Risk Management Department of the Rastra Bank. Prior to that, he has held senior leadership roles in the Office of the Governor, the Department of Financial Institutions Supervision and the Department of Bank Supervision. He has also gained experience in good governance at the board level as a member of the Board of Directors and Investment Committee of National Life Insurance Company Limited and Deposit and Credit Protection Fund.
Thapa, who has completed the higher academic and professional qualifications required for the leadership of the Authority, has completed higher education in various prestigious subjects. He holds an MPhil in Management, MA, MBA and LLB level in Economics from Tribhuvan University. He has a PhD from Singhania University, India.
In the field of financial stability, baseball framework and regulation, he has participated in international trainings and seminars held in various countries including the US, UK, Switzerland, France, Japan, South Korea. He has also published books on banking and management and research articles in various national and international journals.
It is believed that the appointment of Thapa with long experience in central banking regulation, supervision and good governance would break policy dilemmas seen in the insurance sector and contribute to the regulation, good governance and long-term development of the insurance sector.
