MALAYSIA DOUBLES MINIMUM CAPITAL REQUIREMENT FOR INSURERS

Malaysia’s central Bank Negara has announced that it is doubling the minimum share capital requirement for insurers to MR100m from June 30, 2001. “It is important that insurers increase the size of their capital base to be able to undertake investments in information technology and expand their operations”, the bank said. It added that “the right strategy is to consolidate to meet the increasingly more complex and sophisticated demands of the new economy”. The bank also said that it would be reviewing insurers’ claims settlement guidelines, in order to improve efficiency and ease handling procedures. The Malaysian insurance industry’s premium income grew by 17.6% to MR6.3bn in the first half of 2000.