Everest Insurance Company under IB scanner

KATHMANDU, APR 20:

The insurance regulator — Insurance Board (IB) — will not renew Everest Insurance Company (EIC)’s licence until the non-life insurer provides sufficient reason to revoke the ban imposed on its fire insurance portfolio.

Insurance companies are supposed to renew their licence annually by mid-April, according to the Insurance Act 1992. “Act has dictated that the regulator cannot renew licence of a company that is going through a penalty imposed by the regulator, so legally IB cannot renew the licence of Everest Insurance,” said spokesperson of IB Raj Kumar Aryal.

Everest Insurance is going through partial suspension since late August 2012 for paying an insurance claim made by Himalayan Snax even before the surveyor’s final report was submitted.

“The subsequent periodical explanations provided by the company is not satisfactory enough for the regulator to withdraw the ban imposed on its fire portfolio,” said Aryal, adding IB will renew licence as soon as the ban is revoked.

Himalayan Snax’s factory had met with a fire accident in July 2011, and its claim worth Rs 20 million was paid by the company by the end of September 2011 — before the surveyor had submitted the final report.

Source: THT