Life Insurers
cautioned against misleading public
IRDA has asked life insurers to desist
from promising high returns and guaranteed
benefits at the end of specific periods
for the unit linked insurance plans. IRDA
has also advised public not to get carried
away by such unapproved presentations. According
to guidelines of Life Insurance Council
insurers are required to project their rate
of returns between 6% and 10% only. They
are also required to state that the returns
are not guaranteed. This caution advise
is necessitated because IRDA has come to
know of the literature distributed by development
officers promising returns as high as 3.38
crore rupees at the end of 20 years for
an investment of Rs.100000/- over a period
of 3 years.
Reference AMLP program
guidelines
As it was reported by life insurance companies
that collection of photographs for all new
life insurance contracts was found very
difficult in addition to adding to costs
especially for low value products, the IRDA
have decided to provide exemption in this
regard as under. All the life insurance
policies held by a single individual with
a total annual premium of Rs.10000/- are
exempted from the requirement of recent
photograph and proof of residence.
MetLife announces
two new ULIPS
MetLife India Insurance Company Private
Ltd has brought up two unit linked insurance
plans Met Smart Plus and Met Smart Premier
single pay. The products can be purchased
by a one-time payment. The minimum single
premium is Rs.50000. Individuals upto 55
years can buy the policies. The minimum
sum assured is 1.25 times the premium while
the maximum sum assured is five times the
premium.
Easing of investment
avenues for insurers
Fresh guidelines from IRDA are on the anvil,
which may ease the norms for investments
by insurers. The move, which may permit
flexibility for insurers when investing
in corporate bonds and mortgage-based securities
would allow them to enjoy higher yields.
They would be permitted to invest in all
corporate insurances with AA+ and above
ratings. Further mortgaged securities would
be categorized as approved investments.
In addition detailed guidelines are also
expected to be announced for investing in
equity and debt derivatives.
Bajaj Allianz ties
up with LVB for banc assurance.
CEO of Bajaj Allianz General Insurance
Company Ltd., Mr.Ramesh Goyal and CEO of
Lakshmi Vilas Bank Ltd., have signed the
memorandum of understanding for the banc
assurance partnership. This arrangement
makes the LVB, as the twenty first partner
of Bajaj Allianz. After signing they said
that the partnership would be mutually beneficial.
On the occasion Mr.Goyal said that the company
had earned gross premium of Rs.1474.27 crores
upto January end during the year, which
is 38% more than last year. In 2005-06 the
company had earned a net profit after tax
of Rs.51.6 crores on a gross premium of
Rs.1284.6 crores.
Insurance
as savings
By clubbing Sec80C for life cover and Sec
80D for health cover it is possible to save
upto Rs.37000 as against Rs.33000 earlier
for a person with an income Rs.1000000/
Insurance companies are therefore offering
many combined products this year
Kotak life to enhance
its capital by 150 crore rupees.
Targeting a cent percent growth during
the current fiscal Kotak Life Insurance
infuses Rs.150 crores more to its capital.
ED of the JV, Mr.Pankaj Desai told that
the firm is looking at total premium collection
of about Rs.1000/-crore for the year ending
this month. This includes a first year premium
of Rs.600 crores. Mr.Desai told that they
are targeting a first year premium of Rs.1200
crores in the next financial year. Its branch
network in India would go up to 83 in 56
locations by March end, he said.
BOB finalizes its
JV partner.
Bank of Baroda has finalized its life insurance
partner. It is understood that they have
short listed German Insurer ERGO and UK
insurer Legal and General. The long delay
for their foray was due to the bank.aspxiring
to hold 74% stake in the subsidiary, whereas
they are permitted to hold only less than
50%. They have sought special permission
quoting the case of SBI where SBI holds
74% in its JV with Cardiff of France.
ERGO Insurance group is a leading European
Insurer with total premium of euro 16.7
billion and is the second in German primary
insurance market. They have presence in
India through health insurance partnership
with Apollo.
Legal and General is a top 50 FTSE British
companies. It has over 5 million customers
employing 8000 staff. It has an investment
of 211 billion pounds on behalf of investors.
RELIANCE Life gets
ISO certification
Reliance Life Insurance Company has been
accorded ISO 9001-2000 certificate for its
best in class management system in quality,
customer & process orientation. This
is the second life insurance company in
India to get the certificate covering all
functional areas. The certificate issued
by Bureau Verities for a period up to 2010
subject to periodical verification covers
the whole gamut of business processes. Mr.
Nandagopal, CEO Reliance Life said that
the certification ‘is a significant
milestone in our quest to offer innovative
products, outstanding services and improved
customer satisfaction and that their processes
and performance measures are in line with
best in the industry’.
HSBC Insurance
HSBC Insurance Asia a wholly owned subsidiary
of HSBC has associated with Canara Bank
and Oriental Bank Of COMMERCE to float their
insurance schemes in India. They plan to
sell their insurance products only through
banks without engaging agents. It is also
planned to form a joint venture with Canara
Bank holding majority share of 51% and Oriental
Bank holding 23% with the remaining 26%
held by HSBC Insurance. Mr. Harpal Karlcut,
CEO of the proposed JV said ‘ the
idea is to house product creation in the
new venture, which in turn will have distributor
agreements with the three banks. That way,
products can be sold thro’ the combined
network of around 3600 branches and a total
customer base of over 40 million’.
This model has worked for HSBC worldwide
and it believes that it will work in India
also. However in India whether this model
of cross selling will work is yet to be
seen. Mr. Karl believes that this model
will work because the distributors also
have a stake in the business venture and
are not mere sellers. Mr.M.B.N. Rao Chairman
of Canara bank says that they will appoint
special cadre of executives to sell insurance
products.
Archives
| Top |