An insurance training centre is being planned in Cambodia to develop local expertise lacking in the Kingdom’s nascent insurance industry.

The institute hopes to offer diploma courses to industry leaders here so they in turn will be qualified to provide insurance training to others, such as their own staff, said Chhay Rattanak, chairman of the Insurance Association of Cambodia (IAC), the representative body for the Kingdom’s nine insurance companies.

The classes would be accredited by the Malaysian Insurance Institute (MII), a non-profit organisation that provides insurance training. Companies that face problems hiring qualified locals would benefit, because currently “not many people know about insurance, and some students want to study it, but do not know where to go to”.

IAC and MII are currently finalising details for the training centre, said Chhay, who expects the memorandum of understanding to be signed between the two organisations this year. He declined to reveal the fees involved and the types of course to be offered.

Currently, insurance training is done overseas or under existing programs organised since 2005 between MII and Forte Insurance, Cambodia’s largest insurance company.

Forte’s general manager Youk Chamroeunrith said that while his company’s degree programs are open to all, the locals they have trained so far – more than 30 in all – are all Forte staff members, perhaps because “we are all competitors”.

With the planned training centre possibly attracting students from other companies as well, the industry will grow faster, he said.

Although some universities offer insurance-related classes, the scope of coverage is scant, he said. “I look at the syllabus and I shake my head.”