Mumbai: Faced with cut-throat competition post-detariffing, the country's general insurers are vying to provide the first cover to Mukesh Ambani's Rs 22,000-crore Reliance Petroleum Ltd in Jamnagar.
The race among insurance Companies, which have slashed premia to poach rivals' business in the recent past to corner Reliance's refinery cover, has reached fever pitch. The refinery will be commissioned in December 2008, three years after its inception.
HDFC Ergo General Insurance, a relatively-new entrant in India's recently-privatised insurance industry, has thrown its gauntlet into the ring to bag the account. Ergo, a subsidiary of the world's second-largest reinsurer Munich Re, joined hands with HDFC after US-based Chubb quit an earlier joint venture - HDFC Chubb General Insurance.
HDFC Ergo's new chief executive officer, Ritesh Kumar, has led a top team of Reliance Industries officials and an insurance broker to Munich to seek a special arrangement with Munich Re for providing cover to this mega project.
The country's largest private sector general insurer,
ICICI Lombard General Insurance, is the leader in providing insurance cover to the main projects of Reliance Industries, which has the largest private sector insurable assets in the country. The general insurance company floated by the second largest bank in the country, ICICI Bank, had managed to snatch away the leadership position to provide covers to the RIL's three existing projects from state-owned New India Assurance in 2007-08.
Market sources point out that ICICI Lombard General is definitely in the race to bag the RPL portfolio and would also respond adequately to the emerging competition.
However, observers point out the role of Munich Re in the whole affair. Munich Re, which has been operating as a reinsurer in India and has been providing reinsurance support to Reliance Industries, is now having direct role as a possible insurer to RPL, as Ergo is its own subsidiary. Munich Re while bringing its subsidiary Ergo to India had assured the other insurers which normally have reinsurance arrangement with the company (Munich Re) that it will maintain a firewall against its reinsurance business and insurance business.
But the way HDFC Ergo has led a team of RIL officials to Munich Re's head office indicates that Munich Re is not standing by its own assurance to the Indian market.
Source: The Financial Express
Thursday, June 19, 2008
GIC RE TIES UP WITH HANNOVER RE
GIC Re is now joining hands with Hannover Re for development of life reinsurance business in the country. Hannover Re is the 5th largest life reinsure in the world and has global expertise in running this line of business. The partnership would involve technical knowledge transfer from Hannover Re to GIC Re personnel, joint marketing and servicing of business with GIC Re providing the local market knowledge and introduction to the life market players in India.
Source: The Financial Express
Source: The Financial Express
MBN RAO TO HEAD CANARA’S INSURANCE JV
MBN Rao, chairman and managing director of Canara Bank, who retires from his post on June 30, will take over his new assignment as the chairman of the bank’s life insurance arm, Canara, HSBC, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Life Insurance, which kicked off its operations on Tuesday. Canara Bank has a 51% stake in the life insurance joint venture (Asia-Pacific) Holdings and Oriental Bank of Commerce have 26% and 23% stake respectively.
Source: The Financial Express
Source: The Financial Express
LIC LAUNCHES MARKET PLUS-1
Mumbai: Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has launched its new linked deferred pension plan-Market Plus-1. The plan offers four investment options to customers such as bond fund, secured fund, balanced fund and growth fund, LIC said in a press release issued here on Tuesday.
The fund value will be utilized to provide a pension based on the then prevailing annuity rates and in the event of the death of the policy holder it will be payed as pension, the company said.
The product offers life cover, accident benefit and critical illness benefit as available options and the life option is available within certain limits depending on the age at entry of the life assured.
Though primarily a pension product, the plan offers many attractive features and options by providing enhanced limit for investment in the equity market, the company said.
The minimum amount of critical illness benefit is Rs 50,000 and the maximum is Rs 10 lakh while accident benefit can be taken from Rs 25,000 upto a maximum of Rs 50 lakh, it said.
Premiums can be paid as a single premium and also by monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and yearly modes while the policy holder can also switch from one type of fund to another upto four times a year, LIC said.
Source: The Economic Times, The Hindu
The fund value will be utilized to provide a pension based on the then prevailing annuity rates and in the event of the death of the policy holder it will be payed as pension, the company said.
The product offers life cover, accident benefit and critical illness benefit as available options and the life option is available within certain limits depending on the age at entry of the life assured.
Though primarily a pension product, the plan offers many attractive features and options by providing enhanced limit for investment in the equity market, the company said.
The minimum amount of critical illness benefit is Rs 50,000 and the maximum is Rs 10 lakh while accident benefit can be taken from Rs 25,000 upto a maximum of Rs 50 lakh, it said.
Premiums can be paid as a single premium and also by monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and yearly modes while the policy holder can also switch from one type of fund to another upto four times a year, LIC said.
Source: The Economic Times, The Hindu
ICICI PRU RECRUITING FRESHERS FOR B-SCHOOL COURSES
Jamshedpur: ICICI Prudential, the biggest private sector life insurance company in the country, has hit upon a unique plan to recruit eligible freshers with adequate industry knowledge. In line with the plan, ICICI has been picking up freshers to send for a one-year insurance-related management course at the B-Schools at its own cost and then place them in the company.
Under the plan, eligible candidates for the course are screened and shortlisted by talent acquisition Companies hired by ICICI Pru before sending them to the B-Schools it has tied up with.
"The contracts with the B-Schools are renewable on a year on basis," said Sanjay Radhakrishnan, vice-president (HR), ICICI Pru, speaking to FE recently. But they are looking forward for 'long-term' relationships, he said.
Started from last year, the insurance major has already sent around 1,500 graduates/postgraduates to 15 different B-Schools in the country to receive insurance-related management courses. The company plans to deploy these potential managers predominantly in the sales function with a few in the training segment.
ICICI Pru will recruit graduates from other B-Schools as 'unit managers' and 'financial services consultants (FSCs)', but the ones undergoing ICICI-sponsored courses, at institutions like XLRI, are likely to be placed a little higher as 'agency managers' in segments like health insurance, direct marketing and rural life insurance.
According to Radhakrishna and Sachin Joglekar, senior vice-president at ICICI Pru, the company, apart from the B-school programme, is also fulfilling its manpower requirement by inducting experienced employees directly from the industry.
Source: Financial Express
Under the plan, eligible candidates for the course are screened and shortlisted by talent acquisition Companies hired by ICICI Pru before sending them to the B-Schools it has tied up with.
"The contracts with the B-Schools are renewable on a year on basis," said Sanjay Radhakrishnan, vice-president (HR), ICICI Pru, speaking to FE recently. But they are looking forward for 'long-term' relationships, he said.
Started from last year, the insurance major has already sent around 1,500 graduates/postgraduates to 15 different B-Schools in the country to receive insurance-related management courses. The company plans to deploy these potential managers predominantly in the sales function with a few in the training segment.
ICICI Pru will recruit graduates from other B-Schools as 'unit managers' and 'financial services consultants (FSCs)', but the ones undergoing ICICI-sponsored courses, at institutions like XLRI, are likely to be placed a little higher as 'agency managers' in segments like health insurance, direct marketing and rural life insurance.
According to Radhakrishna and Sachin Joglekar, senior vice-president at ICICI Pru, the company, apart from the B-school programme, is also fulfilling its manpower requirement by inducting experienced employees directly from the industry.
Source: Financial Express
INSURANCE BROKING BIZ HEATS UP
Kolkata: The heat in the insurance sector is spilling over to its ancillary businesses.
Next up is insurance broking - a model largely used in the non-life business - which is likely to see significant discounting of rates, once promoter houses of insurance firms float their own broking outfits. The Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority (Irda) had allowed the same in April.
Within the community, the tension is palpable and insurance brokers are worried. Although no broker contacted by DNA Money was willing to go on quote, their feared the Irda move could skew the playing field.
A broking company under the same corporate entity promoting an insurance firm would allow the promoter-owned brokers to discounted prices, they said. Unlike insurance agents, insurance brokers are not tied to any particular insurer, and have a larger role to play as they are also associated with risk management, inspection, premium rating and even claims settlement for their clients.
There are 275 insurance brokers in India, who at present bring in 25% of the business in the non-life sector. But the business is small in scale, especially when compared to developed markets, where big brokers are almost as large as the insurance companies.
The business, many brokers felt, seemed headed to the “next level” without having attained the maturity in its current stage.
“With most of the broking community not too mature, the insurance business does not seem ready for this,” one broker said on condition of anonymity. “There is an element of apprehension for renewal cases, when an in-house insurance broker could prompt its group insurance company to place lower quotes on the account which was structured by another broker a year back.”
Abroad, the broker said, the markets “are extremely mature and are armed with regulations”. Rahul Aggarwal, CEO, Optima Risk Management Services, said, “Changes are good and it is early to predict what will happen. But if we are moving to the next level, the regulator should create a strong monitoring and complaint redressal system for problems which could arise on the issue of discounting rates.”
Source: DNA
Next up is insurance broking - a model largely used in the non-life business - which is likely to see significant discounting of rates, once promoter houses of insurance firms float their own broking outfits. The Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority (Irda) had allowed the same in April.
Within the community, the tension is palpable and insurance brokers are worried. Although no broker contacted by DNA Money was willing to go on quote, their feared the Irda move could skew the playing field.
A broking company under the same corporate entity promoting an insurance firm would allow the promoter-owned brokers to discounted prices, they said. Unlike insurance agents, insurance brokers are not tied to any particular insurer, and have a larger role to play as they are also associated with risk management, inspection, premium rating and even claims settlement for their clients.
There are 275 insurance brokers in India, who at present bring in 25% of the business in the non-life sector. But the business is small in scale, especially when compared to developed markets, where big brokers are almost as large as the insurance companies.
The business, many brokers felt, seemed headed to the “next level” without having attained the maturity in its current stage.
“With most of the broking community not too mature, the insurance business does not seem ready for this,” one broker said on condition of anonymity. “There is an element of apprehension for renewal cases, when an in-house insurance broker could prompt its group insurance company to place lower quotes on the account which was structured by another broker a year back.”
Abroad, the broker said, the markets “are extremely mature and are armed with regulations”. Rahul Aggarwal, CEO, Optima Risk Management Services, said, “Changes are good and it is early to predict what will happen. But if we are moving to the next level, the regulator should create a strong monitoring and complaint redressal system for problems which could arise on the issue of discounting rates.”
Source: DNA
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