The Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA) is moving ahead with another round of insurance claim settlements, with policyholders of five more life insurance companies expected to receive nearly Tk 21 crore.
The planned payments are part of the regulator’s continuing efforts to address long-standing unpaid claims and rebuild confidence among insurance customers. The latest settlements are expected to be made on 5 October, according to people familiar with the matter.
Homeland Life Insurance has agreed to settle claims worth Tk 4.82 crore, while Progressive Life Insurance is expected to 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 not yet been finalised. A meeting between the two insurers and IDRA was scheduled for Sunday to determine the claims that will be settled.
The latest initiative follows two earlier rounds of payments arranged with the regulator’s involvement. Across those two phases, 8,417 policyholders received a combined Tk 37.54 crore in insurance claims.
In the first phase, held on 3 September, 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 settled Tk 5.42 crore among 528 customers.
Golden Life Insurance paid Tk 2.51 lakh to four customers. Homeland Life Insurance settled Tk 10.66 lakh for 15 policyholders, while Padma Islami Life Insurance paid Tk 1.94 crore to 624 customers.
Progressive Life Insurance accounted for one of the largest payments in that phase, settling Tk 6.90 crore among 1,350 policyholders. Sunflower Life Insurance paid Tk 5.21 lakh to 20 customers.
The second phase took place on 14 September. During that round, 5,868 policyholders received a total of Tk 23,03,56,971 in claims.
Padma Islami Life Insurance paid Tk 12 crore to 3,600 customers, while Homeland Life Insurance settled Tk 4.98 crore for 1,145 policyholders. Fareast Islami Life Insurance paid Tk 5 crore to 580 customers.
Sunflower Life Insurance settled Tk 55.30 lakh among 300 policyholders, while Sunlife Insurance paid Tk 50.18 lakh to 243 customers.
The successive rounds of payments have placed the issue of delayed insurance claims under renewed focus. For policyholders, prolonged delays can be particularly difficult when insurance payouts are expected to meet financial needs following the maturity of a policy or a covered event. Clearing verified claims can therefore provide immediate financial relief while also addressing concerns over the reliability of insurers.
At the same time, questions remain about how the wider backlog of unpaid claims will be addressed. Dr Shahidul Islam Zahed, chairman of the Department of Banking and Insurance at the University of Dhaka, has described the latest initiative as a positive step but stressed the need for a longer-term strategy.
According to Dr Zahed, customers are owed more than Tk 7,000 crore in insurance claims. He said such a large volume of liabilities could not be settled simply by selling the assets of the companies concerned.
He has called on IDRA to set out clear short-, medium- and long-term plans for dealing with the outstanding claims. He also said the authority should clarify how it intends to address claims involving institutional investors, as the current initiative is primarily focused on individual policyholders.
IDRA Chairman Mir Nadia Nivin said ensuring the timely payment of legitimate claims is among the regulator’s key priorities. She stressed the need to improve both the speed and transparency of the claims settlement process to restore public confidence in the insurance sector.
The regulator has also indicated that necessary measures will be taken to protect the interests of policyholders. The latest round of payments is expected to add to the amount already distributed through the previous two phases.
For thousands of customers who have waited for their claims, each settlement represents the release of money that has remained tied up for an extended period. Yet the scale of the reported outstanding liabilities suggests that the challenge extends beyond individual payments.
The 5 October settlements will therefore mark another stage in IDRA’s ongoing effort to clear unpaid claims. The longer-term issue will be whether the regulator and insurers can maintain a sustainable process capable of dealing with the remaining backlog while improving transparency and confidence across Bangladesh’s insurance sector.
