By Danial Dzulkifly
SHAH ALAM, Nov 21 – Wavpay Fintech Holding Sdn Bhd, which is the appointed service provider for the Selangor General Insurance Scheme (Insan), has received official accreditation from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to operate the service via its own platform.
This was confirmed by Selangor Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari, who presented documentary evidence to the State Legislative Assembly today to back his statement.
Addressing the House, Amirudin referred to a letter from BNM dated October 10, 2023, confirming the central bank’s approval for Wavpay to “cross-sell Insan provided by AmGeneral Insurance Bhd and Takaful Ikhlas General Bhd via the Wavpay e-money application”.
“This authorisation from BNM, which oversees e-wallet applications, means it (Wavpay) can now offer (the insurance scheme) because it is monitored by the central bank,” he said.
Amirudin was responding to a supplementary question by Taman Medan assemblyman Dr Afif Bahardin on the execution of Insan and the number of pre-registered beneficiaries.
Previously, a number of opposition lawmakers have also taken to the state assembly to question Wavpay’s credibility to manage the insurance scheme, involving millions of ringgit of public funds.
The Menteri Besar said as of September 30, there are close to 5.9 million individuals pre-registered under the free insurance scheme, with 147 having filed claims.
Of this figure, he said the data of about 3.4 million individuals were obtained through the Election Commission’s electoral roll, while the remaining, including school students, were from available data under the state government.
He added that 120,000 people had voluntarily registered for the scheme through the Wavpay application to date.
For context, Insan provides free insurance coverage to all Selangor residents aged 30 days to 80 years old via two types of schemes — conventional protection by AmGeneral and a takaful version by Takaful Ikhlas.
Master policies issued by AmGeneral and Takaful Ikhlas are given to Wavpay Fintech Holding Sdn Bhd, which acts as the master policy holder and service provider appointed by the Selangor government through the state’s investment arm Menteri Besar Selangor (Incorporated).
Separately, Amirudin clarified that the Muslim population’s conventional Insan scheme would be converted to a Shariah-compliant takaful scheme after their current coverage ends in November this year.
Non-Muslims are also given the option to opt for the Takaful Insan version, he said, adding that Muslims who wish to continue with the conventional coverage can do so.
Amirudin said the state government has paid RM12 million to Wavpay for the conventional scheme, covering 6 million individuals, and RM9 million for 3 million people under the takaful scheme.
He noted that takaful coverage costs RM1 more per individual than the conventional one.
