NIA to take swift action against insurance companies involved in misconduct

 Lalitpur, Jan. 1

Newly appointed Chairman of the Nepal Insurance Authority (NIA), Madan Dahal, has pledged to take swift action against the companies involved in misconduct.

"After assuming the new responsibility, I have already directed the insurance companies to make a provision to deposit the claim payments into the bank account of the insured person instead of calling them to claim the money," Dahal who is also the Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Finance said at an interaction with Journalists on Wednesday.

Earlier, He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the NIA for three months. He was assigned the leadership at the insurance sector regulator following the removal of former Chairman Surya Prasad Silwal after the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a case at the Special Court over the discrepancy in his date of birth.

According to him, delayed justice is justice denied so the NIA is making efforts to ensure prompt claim settlements for policyholders. "If any life insurance company delays claim payments even after receiving the required documents, we will take strict action against them," said Dahal.

Expansion of the insurance base will depend on the efficient payment of insurance amount and facilitation to the insured people in various grievances. "I have received hundreds of complaints for non-payment of insurance money to the insured individual," he told the journalists.

Likewise, the provision to get approval from the NIA for the appointment of the CEO of the insurance companies has also been scrapped. This was just a practice, not a legal binding to the companies.

Dahal also announced that a new Executive Director would be appointed to the Authority during his tenure.

"Process for the appointment of the executive director of the NIA would begin promptly. The absence of the ED has hampered the operations of the Authority," he said.

Similarly, he informed that training for the surveyor and insurance agent will be designed and implemented as per the suggestions of the committee formed for the same task.

Stating that disbursement of the grant money for the agriculture insurance is delayed, he maintained that there were two reasons behind the delay - fake claims in the part of customers and insurers and resource crunch in the part of the government.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 2 January 2025.