16 non-life insurers fined Tk 83 lakh for irregularities

The insurance regulator has fined 16 non-life insurance companies over Tk 83 lakh for various types of irregularities and insurance law violations.

Three companies were fined in multiple categories.

Of them all, eight were fined Tk 33.51 lakh for appointing dummy development officers and agents and seven companies Tk 30 lakh for excessive management spending, according to the documents of the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA).

The rest four have been slapped with a total fine of Tk 20 lakh for violating the rules of mandatory investment in government securities.

The first eight were fined for the appointment of fake agents, under a special audit conducted in a period between 2019 to 2021, Zahangir Alam, spokesperson of IDRA, told The Daily Star.

The rest 11 were fined under an inspection conducted by the investment and management expenditure monitoring department of the IDRA, he added.

The IDRA shared the information on its website on June 13.

All but one have paid the fines. Bangladesh Co-operative Insurance has sought for additional time to pay the fine of Tk 5 lakh, which was slapped on it for excessive spending on management.

Express Insurance Ltd was fined the highest, Tk 11 lakh in total, for two separate reasons and Asia Insurance was fined the lowest of Tk 50,000.

At present, there are 36 life and 46 non-life insurance companies in Bangladesh.