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90% of plaints attended to, says IRDA

Administrator — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:00:57 +0000

Thanks to the IGMS (integrated grievance management system) set up by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority in April, redress of grievances in the insurance sector is faster now. The average time to settle a complaint is just around 14 days, media reports quoted Mr J Hari Narayan, Chairman, IRDA, as saying.
Ever since the system was put in place, “over 90 per cent of the complaints registered have been attended to by the IRDA. The complaints registered as on December 9 totalled 2,71,324. Of these, nearly 1.95 lakh were attended to and many are in various stages of being resolved, he added.
“The IGMS is also giving us insights into the very operation of the insurance industry and its response to customers as we can simultaneously monitor customer-interface of insurers in real-time,” Mr Hari Narayan said.
The on-line portal is integrated with the portals of 48 Life and non-Life insurers. The number of on-site inspections has also gone up. “About eight crore insurance policies are sold every year. So, fewer than three lakh complaints are not that many,” he added.

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IRDA plans e-platform for reinsurance

Administrator — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:00:50 +0000

Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) is planning to introduce an electronic re-insurance platform for insurers and both Indian and foreign re-insurers.
“The proposed platform will have to be mandatorily used by insurers and Indian reinsurers as well as foreign reinsurers operating in India,” Mr J Hari Narayan, IRDA Chairman, has said.
IRDA had taken up an ambitious programme of designing an exchange or an inter-faceted, interlinked, electronic platform, on which reinsurance broking transactions would be executed. “The entire operation on the reinsurance side will be done through this particular platform when it is in place,” he added. May 2012 is when the platform will be operational, it is believed

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RS okays LIC Bill

Administrator — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:00:47 +0000

Parliament has approved a Bill for increasing the paid-up capital to Rs 100 crore of the state-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) after the Government faced some tense moments in the Rajya Sabha, where Left parties pressed for division of votes over an ‘amendment’.
Though the upper House negated the ‘amendment’ moved by the Left members, the Bill would have been shot down if the BJP, the second largest party in the Rajya Sabha, had not abstained.

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Nod for foreign branches

Administrator — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:00:39 +0000

Private insurers who have been operating for more than 10 years will be allowed to open branches and set up insurance joint ventures, including subsidiaries, outside India, according to Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA). The norms would apply to all companies involved in Life, General, Health and reinsurance businesses.
In a note issued to insurers, IRDA said the companies should put in place appropriate arrangements to ensure policyholders’ liabilities are adequately ‘ring-fenced’. This means any capital to start operations outside India should be met from the shareholders’ fund, thus protecting policyholders’ money in the parent company.
“All liabilities will be restricted to the paid-up capital of the foreign insurance joint venture. Also, the solvency requirement recourse may be taken to the shareholder’s fund only,” the note said.
IRDA, however, made it clear that foreign subsidiaries of an Indian insurer would not be allowed to set up branches in India on a reciprocal basis.

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IRDA warns Gen cos on discounts

Administrator — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:00:31 +0000

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has said unhealthy marketing practices such as massive discounts offered by General insurance companies, could lead to financial trouble for the companies.
After the deregulation of rates, “the premium has come down to a level where questions arise about the health of the companies. If that trend continues, then the companies will be in trouble,” Mr J Hari Narayan, Chairman, IRDA, has been quoted as saying. “The companies should not fight for top lines,” he added.
For 2010-11, the underwriting losses of General insurance companies were close to Rs 10,000 crore. In portfolios like Fire, the discounts have been as high as 70 to 80 per cent.

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MBR norms now apply to Corporate agents, too

Administrator — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:00:30 +0000

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has said corporate agents of General insurance companies would also come under the guidelines for the minimum business requirements for other agents.
“The Minimum Business Requirements (MBR) provision is now being extended to all corporate agents engaged with General insurance companies for soliciting business,” the regulator said in a circular.
IRDA in February had asked General insurers to lay down MBRs for agents, which would be monitored on a regular basis through appropriate software.

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‘No’ to higher cap on FDI in insurance

Administrator — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:00:28 +0000

A panel of the Indian parliament has rejected a proposal to raise the ceiling on foreign investment in insurance, which could hinder plans of various companies to enter the nation’s $41 billion insurance market.
“In the present global economic scenario, any further hike in foreign direct investment at this juncture may not be in the interest of India’s insurance industry, whereby the common man too would not stand to gain, particularly as a means of social security,” according to a report submitted by the Standing Committee of Finance in Parliament.
Allianz, Aviva and ING Groep NV are among global insurers that will be able to invest in their Indian ventures if the limit is raised in an industry that the Life Insurance Council predicts is expanding 34 per cent annually.

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220 online test centres for agents

Administrator — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:00:26 +0000

In order to ensure adequate training and testing of agents selling insurance products, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority has made available more than 220 online examination centres all over India. From now on, NSE-IT, on behalf of Insurance Institute of India, will be conducting all examinations for Life insurance agents under a new syllabus which emphasises their role in rural areas.
Meanwhile, in view of the large number of requests to open up accreditation process for private agent training institutes, the regulator has called for applications from January 1 to February 29, 2012. New guidelines in this regard
are available at IRDA website
www.irda.gov.in.

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No 4.5% guarantee on pension policies: IRDA

Administrator — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 05:00:18 +0000

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority’s circular which directs Life insurance companies to do away with the current 4.5 per cent guaranteed benefit clause, is expected to have wide impact on the way pension products are structured and operate in the country, industry sources believe.

However, the companies have to declare a non-negative guarantee on their pension products. That is they have to guarantee that the returns on the policy will not be negative.

Also, IRDA has made it mandatory for customers to buy annuities from the same insurer.

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IPO norms for cos ready

Administrator — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 05:00:16 +0000

A notification by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority on Initial Public Offer (IPO) norms for insurance companies is expected soon, as the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has already finalised the guidelines framed by the IRDA.

“We are awaiting publication of the gazette notification by the Government. It will happen very soon. The norms have been already finalised by SEBI,” according to IRDA Chairman

Mr J Hari Narayan.

In its draft guidelines, IRDA has made it mandatory for companies to complete 10 years in existence, apart from having strong financials, satisfactory regulatory record and prescribed regulatory margins at the end of the preceding six quarters, for getting its approval to raise money from stock markets.

On third-party motor pool,

Mr Hari Narayan said discussions had to take place before making any changes in the present regime. “It is not that the pool price would be reduced. That would continue,” he said.

On new joint venture (JV) proposals, he said IRDA had received a few proposals and it recently issued R1, the first stage of licence, to the Liberty-Videocon JV.

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