The Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA) has taken another step towards clearing long-standing unpaid insurance claims, with customers of five more life insurance companies set to receive nearly Tk 21 crore.
The claims are expected to be paid on 5 October, according to people familiar with the matter. The latest move comes as the regulator continues its efforts to address the backlog of unpaid claims and restore confidence among policyholders.
Three of the five companies have already determined the amounts they will pay. Homeland Life Insurance will settle claims worth Tk 4.82 crore, while Progressive Life Insurance will pay Tk 6.78 crore. Padma Islami Life Insurance has decided to settle claims amounting to Tk 8.82 crore.
The amounts to be paid by Sunflower Life Insurance and Sunlife Insurance have yet to be finalised. A meeting with IDRA was scheduled for Sunday to determine the claims to be settled by the two insurers.
The latest round follows two earlier phases of payments arranged through IDRA. In those rounds, 8,417 policyholders received a combined Tk 37.54 crore in insurance claims.
On 3 September, in the first phase, seven life insurance companies paid Tk 14.51 crore to 2,549 customers. Bayra Life Insurance paid Tk 4.51 lakh to eight policyholders, while Fareast Islami Life Insurance paid Tk 5.42 crore to 528 customers.
Golden Life Insurance settled Tk 2.51 lakh among four customers. Homeland Life paid Tk 10.66 lakh to 15 policyholders, while Padma Islami Life paid Tk 1.94 crore to 624 customers.
Progressive Life Insurance paid Tk 6.90 crore to 1,350 policyholders during the same phase. Sunflower Life Insurance also settled Tk 5.21 lakh among 20 customers.
The second phase took place on 14 September, when another 5,868 policyholders received Tk 23.03 crore in claims. Padma Islami Life paid Tk 12 crore to 3,600 customers, while Homeland Life settled Tk 4.98 crore among 1,145 policyholders.
Fareast Islami Life paid Tk 5 crore to 580 customers in the second phase. Sunflower Life paid Tk 55.30 lakh to 300 policyholders, while Sunlife Insurance settled Tk 50.18 lakh among 243 customers.
The repeated interventions reflect the regulator’s focus on addressing claims that have remained unsettled for extended periods. For policyholders, delayed payments can create financial difficulties, particularly when insurance benefits are expected to provide funds after a policy matures or when a covered event occurs.
However, the scale of outstanding claims means that several rounds of payments may not be sufficient to resolve the broader problem. Dr Shahidul Islam Zahed, chairman of the Department of Banking and Insurance at the University of Dhaka, has welcomed the initiative but said a longer-term strategy is needed.
According to him, customers are owed more than Tk 7,000 crore in insurance claims. He said such a large liability could not be cleared simply by selling the assets of the companies concerned. He therefore called for IDRA to clarify its short-, medium- and long-term plans for dealing with the outstanding claims.
He also raised the issue of institutional investors. While the current initiative is focused on individual policyholders, he said the authority should also clarify what measures will be taken to address claims involving institutional investors.
IDRA Chairman Mir Nadia Nivin said ensuring the timely settlement of legitimate claims is one of the authority’s key priorities. She said improving the speed and transparency of the claims process was necessary to rebuild public confidence in the insurance sector.
The planned payment on 5 October will add to the claims already settled under IDRA’s recent initiatives. Thousands of policyholders have received payments through the two earlier phases, while another group is expected to benefit from the upcoming round.
The continuing process has brought the issue of unpaid insurance claims back into focus. While settling individual claims provides immediate relief to policyholders, the reported scale of the outstanding liabilities also points to the need for a sustainable mechanism to address the backlog. How effectively that process can be maintained over the longer term will remain a key issue for Bangladesh’s insurance industry.
