Page 17 - The Insurance Times March 2025
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Sharad Ojha Appointed as His academic background includes a about 1.2 billion euros ($1.26 billion) in
masters degree in management and losses, representing the biggest hit
Youngest Chairman of a bachelors degree in both law and reported so far by a single European
Nepal Insurance Authority management. reinsurer for the catastrophe.
Sharad Ojha has been appointed as the Beyond his professional experience, Analysts have estimated insurance
new chairman of the Nepal Insurance Ojha has contributed as a faculty mem- claims across the industry could total
Authority (NIA). The decision was made ber at multiple institutions, including as much as $45 billion for the blaze.
during the Cabinet meeting held on Apex College, Kathmandu College of Hannover Re, another German rein-
Monday evening. At 33 years old, Ojha Management, and Nepal Academy of surer, has said that it could face claims
becomes the youngest individual to lead Tourism and Hotel Management amounting to 700 million euros.
the regulatory body in its history. (NATHM). His expertise spans business Fitch, the credit ratings company, has
law, financial policy, monetary policy,
The selection process involved a rec- said that European insurers had re-
revenue administration, and economic
ommendation committee that duced exposure to California after a
analysis. Ojha is expected to assume
shortlisted five candidates. Following spate of fires in 2017 and 2018 but
office and take the oath of office
the presentation of work plans and in- would still be "materially affected" by
shortly.
terviews at the Ministry of Finance on the 2025 fires because of their scale.
Falgun 10, three names were for- Swiss Re provided the estimate as part
warded to the Cabinet for final selec- Swiss Re sees hit of less of its 2024 earnings report, which
tion. Based on evaluation scores, Ojha than $700 million from Los showed a 3.1% rise in net profit from
ranked first, followed by Ram Sharan a year earlier.
Pudasaini and Damodar Basoula. Ulti- Angeles wildfires
mately, the government chose Ojha for That claims from wildfires in Los Ange- Munich Re CEO: Reinsur-
the role. les would be less than $700 million and
would impact its first quarter results, ance pricing is overall very
Ojha brings 12 years of experience in the latest European reinsurer to dis- attractive
communication, legal advocacy, and
close a hit from the January blaze. Joachim Wenning, the Chief Executive
corporate leadership. He has previ-
ously worked as a policy and legal ad- The wildfires killed more than two Officer (CEO) of Munich Re, one of the
visor for organizations such as the Con- dozen people and destroyed or dam- worlds largest reinsurance companies,
federation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) aged more than 16,000 structures, said this morning that overall, reinsur-
and the Federation of Nepalese Cham- charring an area bigger than Paris. ance prices remain very attractive,
with the firm seeing enough attractive
bers of Commerce and Industry Swiss Re's expected claims are less than
(FNCCI). Additionally, he was involved those foreseen by its larger competi- growth markets.
in drafting Nepals Tourism Policy 2081. tor Munich Re said it was factoring in Joachim Wenning, CEO, Munich Re
16 March 2025 The Insurance Times
