Bank-insurer ties in focus - Calcutta Telegraph

SBI Life Insurance CEO Atanu Sen (left) with Sudhin Roy Chowdhury, member (life ) of IRDA, in Calcutta on Saturday. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury Calcutta, July 6: The Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) is expecting to come up with the final guidelines on bancassurance by August this year. Bancassurance involves the sale of insurance policies, both life and non life, through banks. The current regulations allow the banks to sell products of only one life and one non-life insurer through its network. In a bid to leverage the bank network to further increase insurance penetration, the insurance market regulator came up with the draft bancassurance guidelines, which proposed that banks should act as brokers for multiple insurance firms. IRDA member (life) Sudhin Roy Chowdhury today said the regulator was almost ready with the final guidelines. "I hope that by next month, it should be in place. We have debated over it and now we are tying the loose ends," Chowdhury said on the sidelines of an insurance summit of the Indian Chamber of Commerce here today. "The whole idea (of bancassurance guidelines) was that all insurance companies should be able to get a slice of the bank route. It should not be the prerogative of one bank and one insurance company," he added. The insurance companies have suggested that the guidelines should be revised so that one bank can tie up with up to five insurance companies. Chowdhury said the regulator was considering such a proposal. IRDA data shows that the contribution of bancassurance channel to gross premium has been steadily increasing. At the end of 2011-12, its contribution to new business premium was about 12 per cent for life and 6 per cent for non-life insurance sector. Market observers suggest that IRDA's move could unlock an opportunity for insurance players to increase their gross written premia, but would require necessary support from the bank partners to succeed. Data analytics IRDA has set up a subsidiary — Insurance Information Bureau (IIB) — to lay more focus on analytics that will help collating data for the industry. Chowdhury said this would provide more clarity about the data used in the industry, resulting in better implementation. via Business - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNEsZQeXjxToo7nB7yJb9ianrU7Qsw&url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130707/jsp/business/story_17089978.jsp

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