Bangladesh's insurance sector has long been facing a skills gap at all levels because of a poor pay structure, uncomfortable work environment and a lack of relevant education and awareness, industry people said yesterday.

Amidst this situation, they said it was high time for the insurers to develop a strategy that enables recruitment of talented executives along with development and retention of skilled people.

"The industry faces an image crisis and a lack of confidence regarding claim settlements," Shafiqur Rahman Patwari, chairman of the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA), told a roundtable at The Daily Star Centre.

The programme titled "How to overcome the biggest workforce challenge in the insurance industry through empowerment of professional development" was jointly organised by Green Delta Insurance, Professional Advancement Bangladesh Ltd, the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) of the UK, and The Daily Star.

"We are working to build trust in insurance," said Patwari.

The IDRA is also working to tackle an ongoing unhealthy competition among insurers who pay excessive commission to hook clients, he noted.

Patwari urged insurers to provide professional training to develop human capital for the industry.

 He said the IDRA was established in 2011 but the associated laws were still not being implemented in absence of regulations, while the office is being run wholly by temporary employees.

State Minister for Finance MA Mannan said coordination was missing among the government, insurers, and clients.

Insurance companies are not adequately aware of professional creation, said Farzana Chowdhury, managing director and CEO of Green Delta Insurance.

It is a company's responsibility to take initiatives for skills development of their staff, she said.

Chowdhury also said the entry-level salary in the insurance sector is almost 50 percent lower than those of other sectors such as banking.

As a result, the new generation is not that much interested in this industry, she said.

Lack of governance and unhealthy practices among the companies have created an uncomfortable atmosphere, discouraging the talents of this new generation from seeking jobs in the sector, she said.

Shibli Rubayat Ul Islam, a professor at the University of Dhaka, said the insurance sector has failed to keep up with the pace of the country's overall economic growth.

He said all the economic indicators, be it the gross domestic product, export or import, were growing steadily. So, insurance has immense potential to grow but this depended on the industry, he said.

"Salary in the sector is very low and if you don't offer more, you won't get quality executives," said Islam, also the chairman of state-owned Sadharan Bima Corporation.

The major challenge for the insurance sector is to build trust, said Ahasanul Islam, chairman of Sandhani Life Insurance.

"We have an insurance academy but it cannot produce enough workforce," he said, adding that many insurance companies were not getting chief executives due to a lack of efficient workforce.

Human capital is the prime need for the insurance sector at this moment, said Borhan Uddin Ahmed, a member of the IDRA.

"We need to find out why the industry people are reluctant to receive training," said Gokul Chand Das, a member of the IDRA, in response to Bangladesh Insurance Academy's claim that insurers were not interested in providing training to their workforce.

Sainesh Dar, regional director of the CII for South Asia, said not only salary but also working environment mattered when it comes to recruiting the right people for the industry.

He said a skills gap exists at all levels and the insurance companies should initiate a move to introduce relevant courses at different academic levels.

Nasir A Choudhury, adviser and founding managing director of Green Delta, Rubina Hamid, chairman of Sunlife Insurance, Imam Shaheen, CEO of Asia Insurance, and Monirul Alam, managing director of Guardian Life Insurance, also spoke.

Brig Gen (retd) Shahedul Anam Khan, associate editor of The Daily Star, delivered the welcome address. Keith Richards, CEO of the CII, and Jamal Mohammed Abu Naser, managing director and CEO of National Life Insurance Company Ltd, were present.