Established way back in 1947 A.D, Nepal Insurance Company is the first general insurance company of Nepal.
The authorized capital of the company amounts to Rs 2 billion while it’s issued and paid-up capital each stands at Rs 1.09 billion. As far as its equity structure goes, Nepal Bank Limited, IME Group and Bishal Group each hold 15 percent while the remaining 55 percent is occupied by the general public.
Nepal Insurance portfolios include property, home, motor, engineering, aviation, micro, marine, cybersecurity, and miscellaneous sectors. “Our major risk coverage is in motor insurance followed by fire and engineering insurance. In our gross premium portfolio for 2075/76, motor insurance accounts for as high as 43 percent. Similarly, the contributions of fire and engineering insurance in such gross premium portfolio stood at 28 percent and 11 percent respectively,” says Bikrant Pandey, Deputy General Manager, Nepal Insurance.
Turning point
It was just some two years back that it underwent a major structural change in the management. “Frankly speaking, the very change has proved pivotal in terms of bolstering the overall performance of the company. The phenomenal upward movements of its major financial indicators over the last three years substantiate this fact,” Pandey states.
In the fiscal year 2073/74, the total gross premium of the company had been calculated at Rs 722 million. The very amount surged by 22 percent and 34 percent in the following two fiscal years- 2074/75 and 2075/76- respectively.
Similarly, in the fiscal year 2074/75, the number of the insurance policies it sold stood at 102,204,000, a surge of 92 percent compared to the previous year. In the fiscal year 2075/76, such number again increased by 54 percent to reach 157,156,000.
Likewise, the number of its total units of listed shares had increased to 6171387 in the FY 2074/75 from 28,76,082 in FY 2073/74. Such number saw a further rise in FY 2074/75 to stand at 10,191,038.
Pandey ascribes such arithmetic achievements to various measures adopted by the company for ensuring good corporate governance. “Clear organizational strategy, effective risk management, fairness to employees and customers, transparency. and regular self-evaluation were such measures.
Innovative steps
“As the foremost insurance company in the country, we believe in helping expedite the entire Nepali insurance industry. In line with this belief, two major pioneering steps have also been lately taken by us,” Pandey claims.
One such step is related to the concept of nationwide mobile insurance awareness campaign while the other pertains to the introduction of cybercrime insurance policy.
“Nepal Insurance came up the very idea of the campaign for the first time in Nepal with a broader aim to increase access of Nepali people to the insurance services,” says Pandey.” There is no doubt that the expansion of insurance coverage can help stimulate an underdeveloped economy like Nepal in various ways. However, still as large chunk of Nepali population as 73 percent are not covered by insurance. Realizing this fact, very campaign was jointly launched by the National Insurance Board, Nepal Insurance, Nepalese Center for Insurance and Social Security in last November in the Laxmania rural municipality of the Janakpur district,” he justifies.
To be gradually carried out at the local levels of all seven provinces of the country, the awareness campaign features on-the-spot insurance facility, classes related to insurance literacy and entertainment programs, among others.
On the other side, the cybercrime insurance policy, the first of its kind in the Nepali context, is focused on facilitating the banks, healthcare, government, and corporate institutions to protect their IT security systems.
“The cases of ATM hacking, ransomware, compromised email-systems and several other cybercrime incidents in the country have been rising alarmingly. So, there is a glaring need for every organization that moves ahead with technology as its core enabler to pay utmost attention to the cybersecurity,” says Pandey.
Growing physical presence
The number of branch offices of Nepal Insurance across the country, which was just 18 some two years back, has now jumped to as many as 51. Similarly, the company plans to further extend such number to 70 in the near future.
At the same time, it is looking to convert its 38 extension counters- established for third-party-insurance- into customer service centers. Such centers, as per the plan, will offer various insurance products related to health, agriculture etc to the customers.
“Apart from helping expand and strengthen our physical presence through out the country, these moves will enable the company to augment its market share in the days to come,” he believes.
Currently, Nepal Insurance accounts for some 8/9 percent of the Rs 1.25 billion non-life insurance industry in Nepal.
Human Resources
The total number of staff members currently affiliated to Nepal Insurance stands at 300 staffers. “For us, human resource is simply our prime asset. So, we have been taking some measures in a bid to harness such resource in an optimum manner,” Pandey divulges.
The company has been arranging both employees both in-house and outsourced training to the employees so that they can enhance their professional knowledge and skills. Nepal Insurance has sent more staffers than any other such company to the Insurance Institute Nepal Limited for various professional trainings. Similarly, the company is distributing the Best Employee Award annually in order to impel its employees to fully unleash their potentials.
