An international forum on "Inclusive Insurance-2014" took place on April 16-17 in Ulaanbaatar.
Co-organized by the Financial Regulatory Commission (FRC) of Mongolia and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the forum brought together some 200 delegates of 17 Mongolian and foreign organizations and companies, and experts from India, Bangladesh, the Philippines, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan.
Banking sector accounts for 96% of the financial sector in Mongolia, and capital and insurance fields account for the rest of the amount. The insurance sector accounts for less than one per cent of the financial market in the country, experts have said. They concluded that the insurance sector has not stood its position yet at the country’s market although all statistical indicators of this have been increasing from last decade.
The UNDP has suggested that the poverty rate in Mongolia can be reduced by increasing adequacy of the insurance services and augmenting kinds of insurance services and products which are focused on people with low incomes.
Experts said that Mongolia is lack of a system for protecting the insured people from risks although the state is strongly supporting insurance companies. “Banking sector has insurance system for account owners, but it is not clear how to protect interests of the insured people when an insurance company goes bankrupt” they said.
The Ministry of Finance intends to draw up and approve a long-term developmental strategy for the financial sector, and this policy document is expected to make clear a state policy on backing the insurance field. Moreover, an important objective of this forum is to encourage sharing the knowledge and experiences on inclusive insurance from international and local speakers. The forum organizers see the forum as an ideal platform to launch the next stage of development of the insurance industry in Mongolia.