The government has appointed Mir Nadia Nivin as the new chairman of the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA), according to a notification issued on Tuesday by the Financial Institutions Division under the Ministry of Finance.
The gazette notification, signed by Deputy Secretary Mohammad Abraul Hasan Majumdar, stated that Nivin has been appointed on a contractual basis under Section 5(2) of the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority Act, 2010.
She will serve a three-year term from the date of joining, subject to relinquishing any employment relationships with other institutions and organisations. Her salary, allowances and other benefits will be determined through an agreement with the government.
The position had remained vacant since Dr. Aslam Alam resigned as IDRA chairman on March 2. Subsequently, the government amended the provisions related to the appointment of the chairman and members of the authority, with the revised rules published in a gazette on May 5.
Nivin previously served as a member of the interim government’s Electoral System Reform Commission. Since October 2025, she has also been serving as an independent director of Delta Life Insurance Company Ltd.
Born in Kuwait, Nivin spent part of her childhood there and studied in an English-medium school before returning to Bangladesh with her family while in the fourth grade.
She earned a master’s degree from California State University, Sacramento, in 2006 and later obtained an advanced degree in public administration from Harvard University.
Nivin began her professional career in August 2007 as a programme officer at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and also worked with the Bangladesh government’s Access to Information (a2i) initiative.
Since 2009, she has held various international assignments, including roles in Germany, New York, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Malaysia and Myanmar, working on election systems, governance, public financial management, digital healthcare, vaccination programmes and artificial intelligence-based human rights initiatives.
Industry insiders view her appointment as an important step toward the reform and modernisation of Bangladesh’s insurance sector.
