Insurers urge IDRA to cut UMP fees

Bangladesh Insurance Association (BIA) urged the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA) to reduce fees of Unified Messaging Platform (UMP) amid global crisis.

BIA recently sent a letter signed by its President Sheikh Kabir Hossain to IDRA Chairman for taking necessary steps in this regard.

Earlier, IDRA introduced UMP, a state-of-the-art technology, at its office to bring the insurance sector under digitalization.

BIA in the letter said the entire insurance sector of the country is facing various challenges due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Global economic crisis, Russia-Ukraine war, abnormal increase in the prices of fuel oil, increase in the dollar rate played a negative impact on the insurance sector like the other sectors.

Expressing frustration, BIA also said earlier they had sent another letter demanding reduction in the UMP charges but the insurance regulatory authority had not taken any measures.

BIA also requested IDRA to hold a joint meeting to review the charges of UMP service and re-fix the fees.

Besides, BIA demanded waiver of already billed service charges and SMS fees against various policies including laps policies, prepaid policies and single premium payments taking into account the financial crisis of the life insurance companies.