ACCI wants unlicensed foreign insurance firms banned

KABUL Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) on Sunday asked the government to ban foreign insurance companies not licensed in Afghanistan and establish a joint public-private insurance company.

ACCI Executive Director Mohammad Qurban Haqju told a day-long training workshop in Kabul that Afghanistan was one of the counties where insurance business was less developed and could not attract a satisfactory people’s attention.

He listed the lack of strategies to improve the insurance industry, the lack of education about insurance services, corruption, lack of capacity-building programmes and unprofessional staff the challenges that hindered efforts at improving the insurance system in Afghanistan.

He said there was a great need for establishing a joint public-private insurance company because local insurance firms needed support of a giant company.

He said dozens of unlicensed foreign companies were operating in Afghanistan, asking the government to ban their activities.

Director of insurance affairs at the Ministry of Finance, Mohammad Arif, said there were some problems facing the insurance sector. He said some people intentionally burnt their houses or other property to seek insurance payment from the company concerned.

He said insurance companies had recently started their business in the country and people were needed to be educated in this regard.

There was one government-run and four private insurance companies which had been granted licenses by the Ministry of Finance, he said, adding the registered firms offered 15 types of insurance services. He said another four private companies would be granted licenses in the near future.

myn/ma