The role of insurance technology (InsurTech) players has to be formalised and boosted to bring about a paradigm shift within the overall insurance sector of Bangladesh. Speakers said this at a roundtable on “Potential of InsurTech in Advancing Bangladesh’s Economy” held at the BASIS Auditorium in the capital today.
Distinguished guests from the Bangladesh Bank and private banks, non-bank financial institutions, insurance companies and other key stakeholders attended the event. The roundtable discussion was moderated by Fida Haq, Co-Chairman, BASIS FinTech Standing Committee.
Masud Rana, Additional Director (BFIU), Bangladesh Bank, stated, “Bangladesh Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA) should make necessary amendments to their policies to allow tech companies and insurers to work collaboratively to develop and modify products to provide 4IR based and hassle-free services to customers.”
“To ensure the development of the insurtech industry and to suitably serve end beneficiaries, our roundtable today has proposed a few groundbreaking ideas and suggestions to properly structure and redesign the insurance policies” added Fahim Mashroor, Chairman, BASIS FinTech Standing Committee.Bangladesh has immense potential in the financial service market, that’s what Fida Haq expressed while touching upon a few key barriers that need to be overcome to bring about the necessary changes required. Participants focused on the insurance gap in Bangladesh of nearly 6 billion USD and a very minimal contribution of the insurance sector – 0.4% to be exact – to the GDP of the country. Insurance sector in other countries – including the sub-continent – have considerably much more market penetration than Bangladesh.
Thus experts concluded with a few solutions to overcome the dismal situation currently prevailing in the insurtech sector: provision of the insurtech companies with permission to operate as Digital Insurance Agents or to begin with provide an NOC until the insurance act is revised to accommodate them. Secondly, there needs to be significant revision of the existing regulations and mandates as per current market needs.
BASIS, as the apex industry body of all software and ITES entities of the country, expressed its interest to work in coalition with the regulators and trade bodies and industry specialists to help solve the situation. Also, the panel requested regulators to meet in regular intervals with the industry players and experts to catalyse the formulation of a healthy insurtech industry forward.The event was organized by Bangladesh Association of Software & Information Services (BASIS). Samira Zuberi Himika, Senior Vice-President of BASIS, inaugurated the workshop by her opening remarks.
Among others, Ehsanul Kabir, Joint Director, Bangladesh Bank, Rafiqur Rahman, Deputy Managing Director, PICL, Md. Moniruzzaman Khan, SEVPGDICL, Md. Rafel Kabir, Managing Director, instasure, Alvi Nizam, Managing Director, bimafy, moderated panel discussion.
