IDRA has launched a weekly payment drive to clear long-pending life insurance claims by liquidating assets such as treasury bonds and land. In the first phase, 2,549 customers of seven insurers received 14.51 crore taka, with Progressive Life and Fareast Islami Life making the largest payouts. IDRA is using a FIFO system to prioritise long-waiting policyholders.
The Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA) launched a fresh initiative on Thursday to settle long-pending insurance claims by helping financially distressed insurers liquidate their assets and use the proceeds to pay policyholders.
The initiative formally began with 2,549 customers of seven life insurance companies receiving a total of 14.51 crore taka, according to information presented at an IDRA programme.
As of March 2026, total claims in life insurance sector stood at 6,812.67 crore taka, of which 4,410.12 crore taka, or 64.73%, remained unsettled.
Data up to December 2025 showed that around 4,500 crore taka was owed to approximately 12 lakh policyholders, highlighting the scale of the industry’s claim-settlement crisis.
IDRA said the payment drive would continue every week as funds become available through the liquidation of insurers’ assets.
Progressive Life Insurance made the largest payment in the first phase, settling claims worth 6.90 crore taka for 1,350 customers.
Fareast Islami Life Insurance paid 5.43 crore taka to 528 customers, while Padma Islami Life Insurance paid nearly 1.95 crore taka to 624 customers.
The other four insurers — Baira Life, Homeland Life, Golden Life and Sunlife Life Insurance — also began making payments, although their initial payouts were comparatively small.
Homeland paid 10.66 lakh taka to 15 customers, Golden Life paid 2.52 lakh taka to four customers, Baira Life paid 4.52 lakh taka to eight customers and Sunlife paid 5.21 lakh taka to 20 customers.
Speaking at the programme, IDRA Chairman Mir Nadia Nivin said the authority had identified around seven to eight insurers with particularly high levels of unpaid claims.
The regulator is working with these companies to liquidate assets, including treasury bonds and land, with the proceeds to be kept in separate bank accounts for claim payments, she said.
In the case of Progressive Life, Nadia said the insurer had encashed treasury bonds following discussions with IDRA to generate funds for settling claims. The company also has land whose sale is underway through a tender process.
The chairman said customers who have been waiting the longest would be prioritised in the payment process.
IDRA is following a first-in, first-out (FIFO) approach, under which claims that became payable earlier will be settled before later claims. Customers who have been waiting for four or five years will therefore be among those targeted in the initial stages, Nadia said.
Nadia also stressed that the amounts announced by IDRA were not merely promises of future payments. Electronic transfers began on Sunday, after which the authority checked bank accounts and contacted customers to verify that the money had actually been received.
Some policyholders however, questioned the amounts they received compared with what they had originally been promised.
Mohammad Masudur Rahman, a low-paid shop worker in Nawabpur, paid 500 taka a month to Baira Life Insurance for 12 years, hoping to use the money for his daughter’s marriage. His policy matured in 2024, but years of chasing the insurer left him close to giving up.
He finally received 25,500 taka against the 64,000 taka he had deposited. Though far less than expected, he said receiving something after years of uncertainty was better than nothing.
A Padma Islami Life customer said she paid premiums for 12 years and spent another four to five years seeking her money. Despite being shown a projected maturity value and profit, she said she received neither the promised profit nor her principal.
In response, Nadia said IDRA would examine the customer’s policy documents and the insurer’s calculations to determine whether the amount payable had been correctly calculated.
If the company’s calculation was found to be incorrect, the regulator would take steps to ensure the customer’s legitimate dues were settled, she said.
The new IDRA leadership is also pursuing reforms to restore confidence in the insurance sector.
Nadia said the authority plans to introduce risk-based supervision within two to three months, describing it as the first such approach by a regulatory body in Bangladesh.
IDRA is also developing a digital complaint-management platform, “Insurance Seba”, allowing policyholders to submit complaints without visiting the regulator or insurers. Complaints will be sent to both the insurer and IDRA, enabling the regulator to monitor their handling and resolution.