Webinar mulls over corona impact on insurance

ISLAMABAD: The FPCCI Standing Committee on Insurance and Lahore Insurance Institute (LII) jointly organized an international online seminar titled, “Impact of COVID 19 on Insurance Sector - Opportunities and Challenges" here.

Over 100 participants from the insurance sector and the business community attended the webinar.

Dr Murtaza Mughal, Convener FPCCI Central Standing Committee on Insurance, inaugurated the seminar and appreciated the initiative of LII in organizing the event.

Chief Guest John Thorpe, Senior Vice President Guy Carpenter Insurance Brokers, explained the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the insurance sector, global reinsurance markets and insurance products like travel, health and business continuity insurance.

Mian Zahid Hussain, former provincial minister who was chief guest, emphasized close coordination among the business community.

He expressed dissatisfaction with low insurance penetration in the country and assured of his full support in this regard. Muhammad Hisham, Chairman Lahore Insurance Institute, briefed the participants about business interruption insurance and its importance in catastrophic events like recent rains in Karachi. He called upon UNDP to include Pakistan in the list of counties for the proposed Pandemic Insurance Pool for SMEs of 13 developing countries in which Pakistan had not yet been included. He also stressed upon the government to create an unemployment insurance pool as prevalent in the developing world.

Assad ur Rehman, CEO Unique Insurance Brokers, stressed the need to develop innovative insurance products and embracing technology. He also requested the FPCCI to play its role along with IAP in reducing heavy taxes on the struggling insurance sector.

Dr Murtaza Mughal said the current extraordinary times had opened up unique opportunities and underscored the need for risk cover at all levels of society.