19/May/2008
India's leading private insurer, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance completed seven full years of operations during which period it sold over seven million policies and crossed the Rs 28,000 crore in assets held.
During the financial year 2007-2008, the ICICI Prudential Life Insurance continued its strong new business performance with retail new business weighted premium of Rs 6,684 crore, registering a growth of 68 per cent over the last year. The company sustained its leadership position with an overall market share of 11.8 per cent.
As compared to financial year 2006-007, the company had more than tripled its branch network to increase customer convenience in financial year 2007-08.
Today, the company has over 1,950 branches in over 1,665 cities across the country, including over one thousand branches in rural segments. The last financial year saw a increase in distribution network and strengthen its service infrastructure and continued to introduce innovative products in the health, retirement and wealth creation space. This strategy helped them to maintain their leadership position in the market and also enhance their customers experience in many distinct ways.
Source: Insuremagic
Monday, May 19, 2008
LIC eyes Singapore as base for SE Asia
19/May/2008
Seeks Branch Licence There; Insurer Also Keen on US, Australia
The country’s largest financial institution, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), eyes operations in Singapore. LIC is planning to set up a representative office first and later a subsidiary in Singapore, which could serve as its base for the region.
LIC has got the go-ahead from the Centre to set up an office in Singapore. A representative office was expected to be opened in a few months’ time after authorities there approved the corporation’s choice of a chief executive.
At present, LIC does not have a presence in the south-east Asian region. The corporation is looking at Singapore as a base. The only south-east Asian presence LIC has is a tie-up between LIC International in Bahrain and a Thai broker. The representative office is expected to open up within the next six months. It will study the market for a year and then draw up a business plan to set up its local operations.
Unlike banking, insurance licenses are easier to get. However, life insurance operations are much more capital-intensive as the business takes several years to break even. Many countries, which allow foreign investment in insurance, insist that multinationals have locally incorporated companies. In Singapore too, LIC will need to have a local subsidiary.
The corporation plans to enter Australian and US markets. It is in the process of appointing management consultants to advice on how to approach such markets.
LIC generates a sizeable business from overseas Indians through LIC International in Bahrain, which was established in 1989. The company caters to the Gulf region and has operations in all six GCC countries — Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE (through chief agents), Qatar (through broker) and Oman, Dubai (through branch offices).
Besides, LIC has operations in Nepal through a joint venture company between LIC and Vishal Group of companies, which was established in ‘01. In ‘03, the corporation established LIC (Lanka), a JV company between LIC and the Bartleet group.
Source: Insuremagic
Seeks Branch Licence There; Insurer Also Keen on US, Australia
The country’s largest financial institution, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), eyes operations in Singapore. LIC is planning to set up a representative office first and later a subsidiary in Singapore, which could serve as its base for the region.
LIC has got the go-ahead from the Centre to set up an office in Singapore. A representative office was expected to be opened in a few months’ time after authorities there approved the corporation’s choice of a chief executive.
At present, LIC does not have a presence in the south-east Asian region. The corporation is looking at Singapore as a base. The only south-east Asian presence LIC has is a tie-up between LIC International in Bahrain and a Thai broker. The representative office is expected to open up within the next six months. It will study the market for a year and then draw up a business plan to set up its local operations.
Unlike banking, insurance licenses are easier to get. However, life insurance operations are much more capital-intensive as the business takes several years to break even. Many countries, which allow foreign investment in insurance, insist that multinationals have locally incorporated companies. In Singapore too, LIC will need to have a local subsidiary.
The corporation plans to enter Australian and US markets. It is in the process of appointing management consultants to advice on how to approach such markets.
LIC generates a sizeable business from overseas Indians through LIC International in Bahrain, which was established in 1989. The company caters to the Gulf region and has operations in all six GCC countries — Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE (through chief agents), Qatar (through broker) and Oman, Dubai (through branch offices).
Besides, LIC has operations in Nepal through a joint venture company between LIC and Vishal Group of companies, which was established in ‘01. In ‘03, the corporation established LIC (Lanka), a JV company between LIC and the Bartleet group.
Source: Insuremagic
Life insurance is where the life is
17/May/2008
There seems to be shift in favor of life insurance, in contrast with earlier rosy projections about general insurance. Every would-be insurer wanted to be in general insurance. Now the choice is life insurance. Allianz, which has tied up with Alpic Finance for general insurance, has now decided to start a life insurance venture. There are others in the pipeline, like GIO Australia, which is withdrawing from the Indian general insurance business so that its new parent AMP can run a life insurance business unfettered. The reason is simple. The Life Insurance Corporation of India registers a premium of Rs.20,000 crore, double that collected by GIC and its subsidiaries. Also, LIC's claims experience is far better than GIC's.
According to projections made by Confederation of Indian Industry, life insurance premiums will grow to Rs 1,48,000 crore in 2009-2010 and the pension business to around Rs 14,000 crore.
It was earlier assumed that private players would exploit the immense potential offered by health insurance. But with life insurance companies ready to package a health insurance product with their life policies, a plain vanilla medical insurance policy is unlikely to make waves.
The other added attraction of life insurance is that a policy holder gets his money back at the end of the maturity period or his family gets the money on his untimely death. With a major chunk of the potential market, read health, targeted by the life insurance companies too, what is left behind for general insurers to fight over is fire, burglary, transit and other such insurance lines.
The hitch again here is the possible fall in premium rates because of competition. For instance, the fire insurance premium -- the most profitable product for the four government insurers -- is all set to be reduced, and motor insurance is really a drag on bottom lines.
The other likely problem that a new private general insurer would face is finding a re-insurer.
Source: Insuremagic
There seems to be shift in favor of life insurance, in contrast with earlier rosy projections about general insurance. Every would-be insurer wanted to be in general insurance. Now the choice is life insurance. Allianz, which has tied up with Alpic Finance for general insurance, has now decided to start a life insurance venture. There are others in the pipeline, like GIO Australia, which is withdrawing from the Indian general insurance business so that its new parent AMP can run a life insurance business unfettered. The reason is simple. The Life Insurance Corporation of India registers a premium of Rs.20,000 crore, double that collected by GIC and its subsidiaries. Also, LIC's claims experience is far better than GIC's.
According to projections made by Confederation of Indian Industry, life insurance premiums will grow to Rs 1,48,000 crore in 2009-2010 and the pension business to around Rs 14,000 crore.
It was earlier assumed that private players would exploit the immense potential offered by health insurance. But with life insurance companies ready to package a health insurance product with their life policies, a plain vanilla medical insurance policy is unlikely to make waves.
The other added attraction of life insurance is that a policy holder gets his money back at the end of the maturity period or his family gets the money on his untimely death. With a major chunk of the potential market, read health, targeted by the life insurance companies too, what is left behind for general insurers to fight over is fire, burglary, transit and other such insurance lines.
The hitch again here is the possible fall in premium rates because of competition. For instance, the fire insurance premium -- the most profitable product for the four government insurers -- is all set to be reduced, and motor insurance is really a drag on bottom lines.
The other likely problem that a new private general insurer would face is finding a re-insurer.
Source: Insuremagic
Bajaj Allianz ties-up with Maharashtra Co-op
16/May/2008
Private sector life insurance company Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance has joined hands with Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank to provide life insurance solutions across the state through the bank's 265 branches.
This tie-up will greatly improve our distribution strength in all Maharashtra and help provide life insurance solutions across the rural and semi-rural customer base of Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank. They are proud to tie-up with Bajaj and will now be able to offer insurance benefits and products to their customers.
Source: Insuremagic
Private sector life insurance company Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance has joined hands with Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank to provide life insurance solutions across the state through the bank's 265 branches.
This tie-up will greatly improve our distribution strength in all Maharashtra and help provide life insurance solutions across the rural and semi-rural customer base of Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank. They are proud to tie-up with Bajaj and will now be able to offer insurance benefits and products to their customers.
Source: Insuremagic
Friday, May 16, 2008
Clients cheer as insurance gets the Net edge
MUMBAI: The benefits of de-tariffing in non-life insurance is finally trickling down to individuals. Insurance brokers have started providing aggregations services, offering quotes across a range of insurance companies to retail buyers of property, auto or health insurance. The key difference between a broker and an insurance agent is that unlike an agent, who pushes products for an insurance company, the brokers represent the customer and are expected to get their clients the best deals from across companies. So far, insurance brokers had been constrained by regulations that required that any person selling insurance be a fully-qualified insurance person. Also, brokers were not allowed to have sub-brokers’ selling insurance. As a result of these restrictions, brokers focused only on high-networth corporate customers. Corporates made the best of de-tariffing by playing up one insurance company against the other. But now insurance brokers have found out that by leveraging the power of the internet, they can aggregate quotes from across companies and offer the best rates to individuals. Insurance broking firms Optima Risk Management and Bonsai Insurance Broking services have managed to tie up with insurance companies, allowing buyers to purchase cover directly over the internet. Optima offers quotes through its website click2insure.com while Bonsai’s site is insurancemall.in. For the consumer, what this means is s/he can purchase the cheapest health or auto insurance online in the same way s/he compares and buys air tickets online. Another silent revolution that has made this possible is the outsourcing of claims servicing by insurance companies. Both in health as well as motor insurance, companies are offering cashless servicing of claim servicing through tie-up with either third-party administrators or auto dealers. “Involvement of the branch has gone down drastically. The location of the branch, therefore, does not matter for the customer,” said Optima Risk Management MD Rahul Aggarwal. But the cashless service has not evolved to the extent that policyholders can get service from across service providers. This means that if either the car is repaired at a not-networked workshop or the policyholder is hospitalised outside the TPA network, the documents will have to be forwarded to the policy issuing officer for reimbursement. According to Mr Aggarwal, after the purchase, the buyer can get the receipt and proof of insurance through email almost immediately. The brokers are also able to extend the benefit of no-claim bonus based on proof of no-claim, either in the form of a renewal notice or through a letter issued by the insurer, who has issued the expiring policy. Mr Aggarwal anticipates retail business to get much bigger than corporate business. He expects to generate a premium of Rs 500 crore from a 10-lakh customer base in the next three to five years. With auto and health insurance dominating the non-life market and private life insurance almost doubling every year, international insurers have also started showing interest in retail. Howden India, an affiliate of the UK-based Hyperion group, has shown interest in distributing life insurance products for multiple companies in India.
Source : ET
Source : ET
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