Regulator studies plans for national insurance bureau

The Office of Insurance Commission (OIC) is looking into establishing a National Insurance Bureau (NIB), whose function would be similar to those of credit bureaux.

Three approaches for the establishment of the NIB have been proposed, an OIC official told Prachachat Business. These are to establish the NIB as:

1. an agency under the OIC. 

2. a public organisation, or

3. a private company.

At present, there is no decision made yet on which model to use because each approach has its pros and cons. The decision will be based, among other factors, on which kind of entity would have the greatest potential to drive data that would promote the development of the insurance industry and provide services to insurance companies, the public and even the OIC.

At present, each insurer maintains its own database and data are not shared with one another.

The function of the…