Kathmandu. In Bangladesh, insurance companies are paying much less claim than they collect, which is eroding public confidence. In Nepal, the pressure of insurance claim payment has increased significantly.
Fiscal Year 2081. According to the statistics till the end of 1982, life insurance companies in Nepal have collected about Rs 182 billion in premiums and paid claims worth Rs 79 billion. This is an increase of 20.64 percent over the previous year.
There has been a huge jump in the rate of claim payment in Nepal, especially in the field of non-life insurance. Insurance companies have been hit with billions of rupees in claims due to people’s protests, fires and monsoon-induced floods and landslides in recent months.
Current fiscal year 2082. In the first four months of the current fiscal year, the claim payment of non-life insurance companies has increased by 34.19 percent to Rs 5.69 billion. The low claim payment rate in Bangladesh has raised questions about the transparency of the companies. In Nepal, the insurance sector is facing the challenge of settling a large number of claims on time.
The Nepal Insurance Authority (NIA) strictly implemented the policy of capital increase and merger to improve the financial health of the insurance sector and to prevent the payment gap as in Bangladesh. Despite this, many companies in Nepal have not clearly disclosed their claim settlement ratio. In order to eradicate the mistrust created by the delay in the payment of insurance claims in the past, the authority is now emphasizing on good governance by adopting a risk-based supervision model.
While insurance companies in Bangladesh have been accused of being reluctant to pay insurance premiums even after collecting premiums, in Nepal, both the number and amount of claim payments are increasing. However, making the insurance claim process simpler, more transparent and hassle-free has become a key task for Nepal’s insurance market.
