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A cover of job loss

With many companies laying off employees and few new jobs being created, the risk of unemployment has increased of late. ICICI Lombard has now introduced a cover that will pay three EMIs of the policyholders in the event of job loss.

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Economic Times- Avaya Global Connect recognize ICICI Prudential Life as " India's Most Customer Responsive Insurance Company"

Mumbai, January 23, 2008 : ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company has been conferred the Economic Times - Avaya Global Connect Customer Responsiveness Award,  2007 as "India's Most Customer Responsive Insurance Company". 

  This coveted title has been bestowed on the company for the second time in three years and endorses the steps that it has been continuously taking towards building a completely customer centric business.  The award is a reflection of the core values of innovation and service quality that drive the ICICI Group.

  "The award deepens our sense of responsibility towards our customers and raises the bar for continuous improvement in this area. It underscores the confidence that our customers, our partners and employees vest in us and motivates us to provide customers with an enhanced service experience in sync with their evolving needs," said Ms. Anita Pai, Executive Vice President - Customer Service and Technology, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. Ltd.  

In keeping with its philosophy of "customer-first", ICICI Prudential Life has created a strong service infrastructure to ensure that customers, be they in cities/towns or in rural areas, enjoy the highest level of service experience. The company has ramped up the number of touch points, whereby policyholders enjoy the convenience of paying their first as well as renewal premiums in cash/cheque at Post Offices, internet kiosks and bank branches. In this regard, it has entered into partnerships with the Department of Posts in Punjab; e-governance initiatives of the Government of Rajasthan (e-mitra) and Andhra Pradesh (AP Online); and South Indian Bank in Kerala

ICICI Prudential Life has empowered its customers by allowing them to fill their application forms and policy documents in Gurmukhi, Gujarati, Telugu, Malyalam or Hindi. They also have the option of speaking to an ICICI Prudential Life call-centre executive in regional language they are most comfortable in (out of the above stated five languages).

About ICICI Prudential Life Insurance : ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company is a joint venture between ICICI Bank and Prudential plc. It was one of the first players to commence operations when the insurance industry was opened to the private sector in the year 2000. For nine months ended December 31, 2007, the company garnered Rs. 4,586 crore of weighted retail + group new business premiums and has underwritten over 5.9 million policies since inception. The company has a network of over 1,000 offices, around 263,000 advisors; as well as 22 bank partners. It is also the only life insurer in India to be assigned AAA (Ind ) credit rating from Fitch Ratings. For the past seven years, ICICI Prudential has retained its position as the No. 1 private life insurer in the country, with a wide range of flexible products that meet the needs of the Indian customer at every step in life. To know more about the company, please visit www.iciciprulife.com.

Except for the historical information contained herein, statements in this release which contain words or phrases such as "will", "would", "aim", "will likely result", "believe", "expect", "will continue", "anticipate", '"estimate", "intend", "plan", "contemplate", "seek to", "future", "objectives", "goals", "project", "should", "will pursue", and similar expressions or variations of such expressions may constitute "forward looking statements". These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to ICICI Prudential's ability to successfully implement its strategy in the field of insurance, our growth and expansion, technological changes, investment income, cash flow projections, our exposure to market risks as well as the other risks detailed in the reports filed by ICICI Bank (joint promoters of ICICI-Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited) with the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States. ICICI Bank undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date thereof.

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Bajaj Allianz and KBL ink pact

Karnataka Bank (KBL) and Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company have

signed an agreement to sell the latter's products. Mr. Ananthakrishna, Chairman of Karnataka Bank, said that the tie-up is in line with the bank's overall objective to be a financial supermarket providing all financial solutions to its clientele. Focusing on the image of a "family bank across India", KBL also offers MetLife's insurance products and RBI bonds.

The bank will initially sell general insurance products through 170 of

its 364 branches, and the products will be available in more branches in

phases.

Sam Ghosh, CEO, Bajaj Allianz, said that the company is looking at such

agreements with banks to extend its reach in rural areas, small cities

and towns. In 2002-03, when it earned Rs 300 crore as premium and reported

a profit of Rs.10 crore, rural areas accounted for about 6 per cent of

its policies.

NIC targets Rs 200 cr from Tie-Ups

National Insurance Company Ltd (NIC), which has recently added State

Bank of Mysore (SBM) as its eleventh bancassurance partner and is targeting

a premium income of Rs 200 crore from similar arrangements.

Speaking of NIC's arrangement with SBM, Mr. H.S. Wadhwa, Chairman and

Managing Director, NIC said, "This arrangement will help in accelerating our premium growth rates and propel us to the top slot." The arrangement will enable NICL to tap the rural and semi-urban sectors, he added.

Sitarama Murty, Managing Director, SBM, said, "This will now allow us

to become a one-stop shop for all financial products." Also this will

provide additional fee-based income for SBM as it is entitled for and agency commission of 15 percent as mandated by IRDA. SBM already has tie-up

with the SBI Life for selling life insurance products through its network.

Giving an indication of its other initiatives Mr. Wadhwa said that the

company is confident of its solvency margins and also hopes that by the

end of this fiscal, NIC's 1000 offices will be networked enabling a

centralized database for evaluating the claims and premium accretions.

IRDA chief calls for insurance reforms

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) Chairman, C S Rao

has called for the social role of insurance companies and has asked the

same to explore possibilities of designing insurance policies and products

catering to those living below the poverty line.

Speaking at a seminar on "Emerging Trends in Insurance Sector"

organised by the Merchants, Chamber of Commerce and Microsec Risk Management Limited, the IRDA chief said, "The 26 per cent of the population that lives below the poverty line can become a new market for insurance companies."

Referring to the immense opportunities in the rural sectors and health

insurance sector Mr. Rao presented a case for the new entrants in

domains such as liability and risks associated in this sector like weather

insurance, rainfall insurance, cyclone insurance among others.

"The new areas of risk which require coverage are those associated with

employment like wrongful termination, discrimination, environmental

hazards etc which needs to be looked into," he stressed.

Mr Rao also delved into the aspect of increase in capital for insurance

companies and said, "With the volume of business growing for insurance

companies, we do feel that capital (requirement) has to be increased...

but there is no consensus as to what extent Indian partners in joint

ventures should be asked to chip in."

Speaking of revising insurance laws, given the changing realities of

the market, he said that there is also scope for modifying the investment

guidelines for insurance outfits. While insurers have to necessarily

invest a substantial part of their assets in Government securities, he added

that the possibility of investing in other asset classes in a limited manner

(say, equities) also exists.

The authority, Rao added, feels that the ability to forge alliances

will soon become a core competency for insurers. The financial sector

including the insurance industry will see the arena being dominated by what are often referred to as `financial services supermarkets', he added.

Non-life insurers can give discounts: IRDA panel

The panel set up by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority

(IRDA) is in favour of non-life insurers giving a discount instead of an

agency commission to customers who buy policies directly from them.

The recommendations of the committee are expected to be made public by

IRDA in a couple of days. The three-member panel included two former

chairman of New India Assurance - AC Mukherhjee as chairman and K N Bhandari as a member. In addition, there is one more member - G V Rao.

According to the committee, discounts would reduce the cost of

insurance for corporates by around 5%. The insurance companies themselves would be largely unaffected since a large part of their business continues to be governed by tariff and their premium net of commission or discounts

would remain unchanged. However, providing discount would affect the business of insurance broking companies, since they depend on corporates for business. Following this, the regulator would decide whether discounts in place of commission should be allowed or not.  

AMP Sanmar eyes 200% growth

AMP Sanmar, the joint venture between Australian AMP and the Sanmar

group is targeting to garner a 200% increase in its premium income during FY

04.

The company Managing Director, Graham Meyer said that the premium

income was likely to be at Rs 75 crore next year and the company is also in

plans to increase its capital base in the near future.

AMP Sanmar is likely to increase its branch network by 24 from the

current 46 and adding another 1,000 agents by the end of December taking the number up to 5,000.

www.licindia.com

www.hdfcinsurance.com

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