10 percent drop in individual life insurance agents

Private life insurers witnessed a drop of 17 per cent and LIC of 4 per cent.

 According to the annual reported issued by IRDA, the year 2011-12 witnessed a 10 per cent decrease in the number of individual life insurance agents. The number has gone down from 26 lakh as on 31st March, 2011 to 23 lakh as on 31st March, 2012.

While the private life insurers recorded a decrease of 17 per cent, LIC showed a decrease of 4 per cent. LIC has more individual agents than all private life insurers put together. At the end of the year, the number of agents with LIC stood at 12 lakh. IRDA in its annual report said, “It is in the interest of all the stakeholders to work on reducing the turnover of agents and build a stable and growing agency force.”

 Details of individual life insurance agents

Insurer	Agents as of 1st April 2011 (in lakh)	Additions during 2011-2012 (in lakh)	Deletion during 2011-2012 (in lakh)	Agents as of 31st March 2012 (in lakh)	Net change in %
Private	13	3.7	5.9	10.8	- 17%
LIC	13.4	3.4	4.0	12.8	- 4%
Industry	26.4	7.1	9.9	23.6	- 10%

The count of corporate agents as of 31^st March 2012 stood at 882. Licenses of 1417 corporate agents were cancelled and 134 new agents were added. LIC has terminated 82 corporate agents while adding

27 new licenses. The private insurers have terminated 1335 corporate agents while recruiting 107 new corporate agents.

 Details of corporate life insurance agents

 

Insurer	Agents as of 1st April 2011	Addition during 2011-2012	Deletion during 2011-2012	Agents as of 31st March 2012	Net change in %
Private	1870	107	1335	642	-       65%
LIC	295	27	82	240	-       18%
Industry	2165	134	1417	882	-       59%

Traditional life insurance products to get a new look soon

IRDA is looking to restructure the design of traditional life insurance products.

A committee with IRDA and industry experts from Life Insurance Council, officials from private and public life insurance company is in the process of restructuring the traditional life insurance products.  According to industry experts, the regulator is expected to cap commission for agents, expenses charged by insurers and surrender charges. It will also specify minimum death benefits, the minimum life protection component and a minimum guaranteed amount to be paid when a policy is surrendered.

The regulator will issue the new rules in a month’s time as it is in the process of framing the changes.

“The regulator should give some time to the life insurers to adapt to the new changes. It is difficult for us to constantly modify our marketing strategies due to frequent changes. However, the changes are for the betterment of the industry and will curb mis-selling,” said a senior official of a private life insurance company.

 The new rules will also require an insurer to manage expenses and surrender charges in such a way that the maximum difference in the gross and net return at maturity in a traditional life product does not exceed four percentage points. This rule will push the insurers to cut down agent commission and operating expenses, shared an industry expert.

“We feel that the regulator will set a minimum surrender value for traditional life products under the new guidelines. There will be different slabs of surrender charges for different years of policy completion,” said another senior official of a bank owned life insurance company.

Insurance products to have death benefit and surrender value

 IRDA revises norms for traditional policies.

IRDA in its recent board meeting has revised the norms for traditional life insurance products by adding minimum death benefit and minimum surrender value to the products.

J. Hari Narayan, Chairman, IRDA shared with Cafemutual, “The life insurance products has been revised and aligned with the pension products in some aspects of benefits. The aim was to enhance customer protection keeping in view the long-term nature of life insurance products.”

As per the draft guidelines released by IRDA in June last year, it was proposed that the minimum sum assured should be higher by 10 times the annual premium or 0.5 times of the annual premium multiplied by the term of the policy for those who are below 45 years.

For below 45 years, the minimum sum assured is higher by 10 times the annual premium or 0.5 times the annual premium multiplied by the term of the policy or 105 per cent the premium paid as on the date of the policyholder’s death.

IRDA licenses five repositories for demat

IRDA has licensed the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL), Central Depository Services Limited (CDSL), Stock Holding Corporation of India, Karvy Group and Computer Age Management (CAMS) Repository Services to act as repositories for insurance policies in its board meeting on Wednesday. But it will take a year for customers to finally hold the insurance in a demat form.

The repositories have decided to keep a uniform fee structure for this service. “We do not want any competition among repositories at the initial stage, so we will be offering uniform fees to the life insurers,” said a senior official of one of the repositories. 

This move will help both the insurers and policyholders. While the insurers will be able to cut down costs, policyholders will be able to maintain insurance policies in electronic form and make changes, modifications and revisions to them. Policyholders will not be levied any charges for using such facilities as the insurance repositories will be paid directly by the insurance companies.

“Dematerialization of policies will reduce our workload. Customers will not be in trouble if they lose their policy,” says Pradip Agarwal, MDRT member from Kolkata.

How to Measure Bust Measurement

Size & Fit

Lingerie & Sleepwear

Size	XS0	XS2	S4	S6	M8	M10	L12	L14	XL16
Bust (in.)	32.5	33	34.5	35.5	36.5	37.5	39	40.5	42.5
Waist (in.)	24	25	26	27	28	29	30.5	32	34
Hip (in.)	34.5	35.5	36.5	37.5	38.5	39.5	41	42.5	44.5
Thigh (in.)	20.5	21	21.5	22	22.5	23	24	25	26.5

Thread tape measure under arms, across shoulder blades at back and around fullest part of bust at front. Relax arms at sides while keeping tape parallel with floor. This is your bust measurement. If this measurement falls on the ½ inch, round up.

Waist Measurement
Bend to one side to find natural indentation in torso. This is your natural waist. Run tape around natural waistline, keeping tape parallel with floor and one finger between body and tape for a more comfortable fit.

Hip Measurement
Stand on a level surface with feet together. Measure around fullest part of hips and bottom (approximately 7" - 9" below waistline), keeping tape parallel with floor.

Thigh Measurement
Stand with heels apart and measure around fullest part of thigh (approximately 1" below crotch), keeping tape parallel with floor.