Insurance in Solomon Islands

The main legal framework is the Insurance Act 1986, Cap.82, with motor third-party cover governed separately by the Motor Vehicles (Third-Party Insurance) Act, Cap.83. CBSI acts through the Controller of Insurance, while the Ministry of Finance and Treasury and the Minister have responsibilities under the legislation. An insurer must be a body corporate and obtain registration through the prescribed form and fee. The Controller assesses matters such as expected business volume, earning prospects, sound business principles, financial standing, management, the principal officer, solvency, reinsurance and the public interest. Registered insurers may also need to maintain deposits with CBSI, local assets, a solvency margin, separate accounts and regular returns. The current public listing identifies Insurance Act Cap.82 version 4 as at 5 February 2024. CBSI reported in 2025 that instructions for a new Insurance Bill had been approved, with stronger licensing, governance, capital, solvency and disclosure requirements under development; an enacted replacement was not evidenced in the available material, and IFRS 17 adoption remained pending. The market is small and strongly influenced by regional or overseas ownership. The published market structure lists three general insurers—Capital Insurance Solomon Islands Limited, Tower New Zealand Insurance Limited and QBE (International) Insurance Limited—and one life insurer, Capital Insurance Solomon Islands Limited. Pacific Insurance Brokers Limited and United Risk Services Limited are listed as insurance brokers. BRED Bank Solomon and Solinsure Limited are listed as insurance corporate agents. Most listed contacts are in Honiara, and no separate provincial licensing structure is evidenced. Available insurance classes include motor, fire and property, home contents and house owners, marine cargo and hull, employers’ liability and workers’ compensation, public and professional liability, contractors all risks, personal accident, life, burglary and miscellaneous cover. In the latest published class mix for the first half of 2023, fire accounted for 45% of written business, followed by employers’ liability or workers’ compensation at 14.1%, motor vehicles at 12.7%, home contents or house owners at 8.2%, contractors all risks at 5.6%, personal accident at 4.2%, public liability at 3.2%, professional indemnity at 1.5%, marine cargo at 1.4% and motor vehicle third-party cover at 1.5%. For the first half of 2024, the market recorded SBD 51.4 million in gross written premium, SBD 16.0 million in outward reinsurance, SBD 28.1 million in net earned premium, SBD 213.8 million in total assets and SBD 13.1 million in net income. No standardised public retail premium list was evidenced, so price, exclusions, underwriting and renewal terms depend on the policy and provider. Third-party motor insurance, commonly called CTP, is compulsory for motor vehicles. It responds to legal liability for a third party’s death, bodily injury or sickness or disease. It does not cover damage to the insured vehicle or the insured’s own property; comprehensive motor insurance is a separate product. Local implementation involves insurers, vehicle and traffic authorities and the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force. Insurance may be purchased through a licensed insurer, broker or corporate agent. Brokers and agents require licences, and an intermediary must explain the proposal and policy documents fully and pass relevant information to the insurer. When an agent receives a premium, the law treats the payment as received by the insurer. An intermediary must generally remit premiums within 15 days, and all premiums due must be paid within 60 days from the start of cover. Brokers may also have deposit or security obligations. Offshore placement requires prior CBSI approval and market testing and is intended for cases where local capacity is insufficient, subject to foreign insurer financial and regulatory standards. A claim goes to the insurer, agent or broker named in the policy and must follow the policy’s notice and evidence requirements. Complaints under COI Directive No. 4 may be made in writing, personally, verbally or through another reasonable method. The recipient should acknowledge the complaint within 7 working days and resolve it within 30 working days. If the outcome is unsatisfactory, the complainant can seek an internal or external review and may escalate through CBSI’s consumer-protection channel. Complete policy, payment, loss and supporting documents help the review. Insurers report complaint information to the Controller of Insurance within 30 calendar days after each quarter ends. Solomon Islands does not have an evidenced direct equivalent of general sickness or unemployment insurance. SINPF is a compulsory provident or superannuation system: eligible formal employees contribute 5% of gross monthly salary, while employers contribute 7.5%, making a total of 12.5%. SINPF benefits include normal or early retirement, permanent incapacity, death or survivors’ benefits, migration, unfair dismissal or redundancy, and loan pledges. Normal withdrawal starts at age 50. The SINPF death benefit is at least SBD 1,000, with the amount determined by the Board. youSave is available to Solomon Islands citizens aged 16 to 70 in informal or self-employed work as a savings and retirement product, not as insurance. TrigaCash is a separate climate-risk parametric microinsurance initiative. TPAL provides the insurance arrangement, SINPF-youSave serves as the beneficiary channel, M-SELEN supports digital payouts, and UNCDF and PICAP support the initiative. Verified weather data can trigger automatic payments for excessive rainfall, cyclonic wind or drought, so an individual claim submission is not required. The 2025 pilot began in Guadalcanal and Malaita under the CBSI regulatory sandbox. It had 66 policyholders, including 39 women, and by January 2026 had made 35 payouts totalling SBD 8,800, with payments made up to two weeks after a heavy-rain event. The national rollout remained planned rather than completed, and access to insurance services can vary between provinces.