Kathmandu. The Board of Directors of Insurance Authority(currently Insurance Board), the regulator of insurance companies, will now include female member too.
In the Insurance Act 2079, which is in the process of implementation, there is a provision that one female member should be mandatory in the five-member board of directors of the Insurance Authority. The provision of mandatory female’s representation will be applied to the appointment of new members of BODs after the completion of term of the current BODs.
Under paragraph 2 of the Act, there is a provision related to the BODs of the Authority in section 6. There is a provision that one woman must be appointed as a member of the BODs from among people with specialized knowledge in life insurance or non-life insurance business.
The Authority shall have a Board of Directors as follows:-
(a) Person appointed by Government of Nepal – Chairman
(b) Joint Secretary, Ministry of Finance – Member
(c) Joint Secretary, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs – Member
(d) One member from among persons having expert knowledge in life insurance business
(e) One member from among persons having expert knowledge in life insurance business
(2) When appointing members as per clauses (d) and (e) of sub-section (1), at least one woman shall be appointed.
Earlier, in the Insurance Act 2049, the BODs of the Insurance Board was stipulated to have five members, but women’s representation was not made mandatory.
Although the Insurance Act 2049 too provides for a representative of the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Law, the position of the representative was not specified. In addition, the new act has replaced the provision of one representative on the BODs on behalf of the insured. In addition, there is a provision that the secretary of the BODs should be an employee of the Insurance Board.
In the new Act, the qualifications for the appointment as chairman and member of the Insurance Authority have also been determined. There is a provision that at least five years of high level managerial work experience in the relevant field should be obtained with at least a master’s degree or similar degree in insurance, monetary, banking, finance, commerce, management, public administration, statistics, mathematics, economics or law to get appointed as a member of BODs. But experience will not be mandatory for the joint secretary representing the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Law.
In addition, persons who have not completed two years from completion of their term in position of chairman, member, executive head and senior management officer, such person cannot be appointed as chairman or member of the BODs.
