Life insurers have paid out 74pc of quake claims

The nine life insurers operating in Nepal have so far settled 217 – or 74.3 percent – of the 292 claims, in the wake of the recent earthquake, according to data from the Insurance Board (IB).

Among them, Nepal Life Insurance Company has settled 97.5 percent of the total claims amounting to NPR20.14 million (USD195,800), making it the insurer which has paid out the highest ratio of claims to date.

Quake claim payouts by life insurance companies are seen as better when compared to non-life insurers.

The highest number of claims was received by Sagarmatha Insurance (2,234), followed by Siddhartha Insurance (1,464) and Shikhar Insurance (1,344).

Non-life insurers claim that the delay in submission of reports by surveyors is hindering the claim settlement process. There is also a lack of licensed surveyors in the country, in view of the scale of the destruction caused by the quake.