The main regulator is the Insurance Business Supervisory Board, which is established under the Ministry of Planning and Finance (MOPF), which currently closely restricts the participants and products in the insurance market within Myanmar. The major market participant, Myanmar Insurance, which was the government monopoly before the market was partially liberalized in 2012, is still required to provide some approvals for market entry as well.
The Central Bank of Myanmar, which has regulatory oversight of all fintech in Myanmar, is also likely to be a key regulator for the provision or approval.
In relation to fintech, a license from the Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM) is required for an institution to provide e-money (monetary value stored on a card), credit tokens (credit cards) and mobile financial services.
Except to the extent that insurtech activities fall within those services, insurtech is otherwise not addressed under current Myanmar law. However, as the insurance market is still heavily regulated, any activities that relate to insurance can only be undertaken with the approval of the Ministry of Planning and Finance, and only within the permitted scope of the allowed insurance products.
Currently innovation in the insurance market is not possible. There are a small number of licensed insurance providers who are permitted to offer a set range of insurance products (that is, there is no product differentiation).
We understand that when the new insurance market regulations are released, they will promote significantly increased flexibility and competition in the insurance market, including significant opportunity for innovation and the ability to invest in and promote insurtech. At this point in time, there is no clear time frame for the relaxation of the Myanmar insurance market; however, we consider that it is likely to be sometime in late 2017 or early 2018.
In order to provide any form of insurance business within Myanmar, the insurer will be required to obtain a license from the Insurance Business Supervisory Board established under the MOPF.
Licensing is not standard form and the application must be made directly to the Insurance Business Supervisory Board, which may require significant information from the applicant regarding its experience, its financial capacity and its intended business plans.
Further, any license obtained from the Insurance Business Supervisory Board is required to specifically list out the policies that the entity is licensed to provide. Approval will also need to be obtained for:
- premiums
- policy application and claim forms
- locations of proposed branch offices within Myanmar
- any promotional or marketing materials that will be used for insurance products
- the capital investments that the insurer intends to
make within Myanmar
Beyond these requirements, the Insurance Business Supervisory Board may include any conditions in the business license that it considers necessary.
There is no set time frame for obtaining an insurance license, however, from experience it is possible for the process to take up to six months depending on the nature of the services requested and the capacity of the Insurance Business Supervisory Board.
There are no specific regulations for telematics or biometrics. Further, there are no provisions regarding data privacy in Myanmar.
Where the insurer operates any financial elements of its business in Myanmar, however, it may be captured by the duty of secrecy which is required under the Financial Institutions Law 2016.
No.
There are no specific laws and regulations in the insurance sector prescribing rules on technology risk management. The existing regulations focus more generally on ensuring that there are sufficient funds provided by all insurers to have capacity to provide insurance repayments when or if required.
There are no general data privacy laws.
There are specific confidentiality and secrecy requirements in some industries (for example, banking and telecommunications); however, these will not apply to insurance companies unless they also operate in those industries. More likely, confidentiality requirements are contained in the specific insurance licenses granted by the Insurance Business Supervisory Board.
Not specifically arising from data privacy laws.
There are no regulations that expressly deal with cybercrime.
"Hacking" is considered a criminal offense under the Electronic Transactions Law 2004. There are also suggestions that the government is drafting, or considering, a cybercrime law; however, there have been no publications of a draft version to date.
No deviation is currently permitted from the set insurance products. We consider that significant innovation will occur once the new insurance laws are released.
There are no specific cases by the financial regulators so far.
- Existing restrictive regulations
- Extent of insurance penetration and understanding within Myanmar
- Limited scope of electronic banking among the population – It is estimated that a significant number of Myanmar citizens (well over 50%) do not have bank accounts. While mobile wallets and other payment mechanisms are becoming more popular, this will need to expand before uptake of insurtech can be linked to fintech innovations as well.
The Myanmar population is fast developing a mobile and online presence, meaning that technological development and innovation is welcome in the country. As such, with relaxation of the insurance laws permitting scope for growth and innovation in the insurance industry, it is highly likely that insurtech innovation will become widely utilized within Myanmar.