Home ›› 07 Nov 2021 ›› Front
Of the 35 life insurance companies in the country, 13 are running without the chief executive officers at the helm of operation for a long time.
According to sources in the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA), the insurers are operating their business for years through deputizing for the posts of CEOs.
The list of such firms having no CEOs includes Alpha Islamic Life Insurance, Best Life Insurance, Chartered Life Insurance, Fareast Islamic Life Insurance, Guardian Life Insurance, Jamuna Life Insurance, Mercantile Islami Life Insurance, NRB Global Life Insurance, Protective Islami Life Insurance, Sonali Life Insurance, Trust Life Insurance, Astha Life Insurance and Akij Takaful Life Insurance.
On the other hand, of 45 non-life insurance companies, one Janata Insurance company conducts operation without the chief executive officer.
Former adviser to the caretaker government AB Mirza Azizul Islam told The Business Post that the top executives should be appointed to the financial institutions in a timely manner. In each country, new CEOs are hired two to three months before the formers go on retirement.
“In this case one becomes a managing director (designate) and another managing director, but in our country there is no such practice,” he said, suggesting that the regulatory body should take necessary action against the institutions having the highest number of vacancies for the key posts for a long time.
According to IDRA, the CEO is the mainstay of the insurance company, and it is a clear violation of the law to keep the post vacant.
There is a provision in the Insurance Act 2010 of appointing an administrator if the post of chief executive officer falls vacant for a maximum six months.
However, the regulator did not take any such initiative to appoint an administrator despite the fact that the post of CEOs went vacant for seven years in case of some insurance firms.
An IDRA official who wanted to remain unnamed opined that the board of directors seeks to appoint a person of its choice as the chief executive officer to control the company’s activities and take some ‘unethical’ advantages.
“So they run the company tasking incompetent people with various responsibilities, because they don’t find their favourite one for the post of CEO,” he said.
Quizzed, SM Shakil Akhtar, executive director and spokesperson of the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority, said applicants may not have required qualifications to be hired as per the IDRA guidelines, which makes it impossible to appoint someone to the top post.
Sources said NRB Global Life Insurance has been conducting business for about four years without a CEO.
One Amal Kanti Das resigned from the post of CEO of NRB Global Life on March 11, 2016, and the post of chief executive remains vacant since then. MM Monirul Alam is currently deputizing for CEO.
The post of chief executive officer for Trust Islami Life Insurance fell vacant in March 2020. Mohammad Gias Uddin is observing the duty as an acting CEO.
Borhan Uddin Majumder, CEO of Mercantile Islami Life Insurance, died on July 20 last year, and the top position of the company has since been vacant. Mohammad Saidul Amin, DMD of the insurance company, is currently working as an acting CEO for the insurance firm.
The post of chief executive officer of Alpha Islami Life Insurance became vacant on August 21, 2019. Noor E Alam Siddiqui is currently at the helm of operation.
Ekramul Amin, CEO of Best Life Insurance, resigned on October 2, 2019, and the insurance company is running its operation without a chief executive officer since then.
Biswajit Kumar Mandal’s term as the CEO of Jamuna Life Insurance expired on April 6, 2020, and the chief executive position remains unfilled for two years. Kamrul Hasan Khandaker, additional managing director of the company, is currently the chief executive officer of the company.
The IDRA on September 15 removed Fareast’s Chief Executive Officer Mohammad Hemayet Ullah for his involvement in mismanagement and financial irregularities that went against the interests of policyholders.
The regulator asked the insurance company to appoint a bona fide chief executive officer within three months.
On September 16, Alamgir Kabir took the charge of as an acting CEO for the company.
