Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) will conduct a complete investigation into an issue over some letters being issued under LIC's name suggesting that private insurer HDFC Life rejected insurance claims of Hemant Karkare. Karkare was a police officer who died during the 26 November 2008 Mumbai attacks. Pursuant to these letters, HDFC Life has sent a legal notice to LIC

LIC to conduct probe on HDFC Life issue

Business Standard

Increases equity exposure to 15% for all insurers; ministry wanted 30% for LIC

Irda sticks to its guns on LIC

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (irda) today said that further changes would be made to the bancassurance regulations before it is finalised

New bancassurance rules to be delayed

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority has said that it is not in favour of fund inflows into the insurance sector from countries having easy tax regulation structures like Mauritius and Cayman Islands. "Irda is not comfortable with investments from tax havens into insurance," said J Hari Narayan, chairman of Irda.

Irda uncomfortable with investment flow into insurance from tax havens

Ulip-related complaints accounted for 11,714 out of the total 309,613 complaints in the life insurance industry, according to the Irda annual report for 2011-12

Focus on higher commissions adds to insurance mis-selling

The compnay also in talks with refineries over clarity on Iran crude import cover

GIC Re denies refusing cover to Indian refineries

BS Reporter

Aim to increase presence in health & agricultural insuranceAt a time when general insurance penetration is below one per cent of gross domestic product, private general insurers are looking at tapping the market in Tier-II and III towns to increase their presence across the country, especially in the areas of health and agricultural insurance. Companies such as ICICI Lombard, HDFC Ergo, L&T General Insurance and Tata AIG General Insurance are putting in efforts to generate premiums from smaller towns.â€œThe financial year will see a renewed approach from players in tapping the hitherto untapped potential of Tier-II and III towns and cities. For example, we have recently won the bid for implementing Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) programme in eight districts of Rajasthan,â€ said Joydeep Roy, chief executive officer and wholetime director, L&T General Insurance. The objective of RSBY is to provide protection to below poverty line households from financial

Pvt general insurers eye more biz in smaller towns

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) has said insurance companies should implement appropriate procedures to determine beneficial ownership in insurance contracts.According to a government notification, â€œBeneficial owner refers to the person(s) who ultimately owns or controls a customer and/or the person on whose behalf a transaction is being conducted, including a person who exercises ultimate effective control over a legal person or arrangement.â€In September 2010, Irda had bought out guidelines on anti-money laundering/counter-financing of terrorism, which required insurers to identity and verify the beneficial owner in an insurance contract. To introduce a uniform approach across the financial sector, the Ministry of Finance, along with various financial sector regulators, has specified the procedures for determination of beneficial ownership. According to the ministryâ€™s guidelines, in case a customer is not an individual or a trust

Bring clarity on beneficial owner in contracts, says Irda

The premium collections of non-life insurers saw a growth of 19.1 per cent for the nine-month period ended December 31 and stood at Rs 49,891.44 crore, against Rs 41,866.74 crore for the same period in 2011. Private general insurers contributed Rs 21,268.16 crore, 22.42 per cent growth over the corresponding period in 2011. Public general insurers saw 16.86 per cent growth and added Rs 28,623.28 to the kitty.

Non-life insurers' premium collection up

As treaty renewals begin from April, reinsurance rates for insurers are set to decline. Reinsurers and reinsurance brokers said the fact there was no major natural catastrophe in 2012 would affect their books &mdash; premiums would be more stable; in some cases, these could even fall. A K Roy, chairman and managing director of General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re), said, &ldquo;January renewals have just been completed.

Reinsurance premiums set to fall

Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Company Limited has launched its commercial vehicle insurance on the online platform, the company said in a press release today.

Royal Sundaram offers online covers for commercial vehicles

The new business premium collections of life insurers was down by 3.8 per cent in the period from April 1 to December 31, 2012, and stood at Rs 69,184 crore, against Rs 71, 953 crore in the corresponding period previous year, according to Irda data.

New business premium of life insurers falls

HSBC Holdings Plc&rsquo;s $7.4 billion sale of its stake in Ping An Insurance (Group) Co to Thai billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont was cleared by regulators, helping Europe&rsquo;s largest bank by market value revive earnings.

HSBC sells $7.4-bn Ping An stake to Thai billionaire


	

	Punjab National Bank (PNB) and US-based Metlife today signed a deal wherein the state-run lender picked up 30% stake in the insurance company for an undisclosed amount.

PNB acquires 30% in Metlife

Concerned about the subdued growth in the insurance sector, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday asked insurance companies to refrain from miss-selling and devise simple products.

Refrain from miss-selling: Chidambaram to insurance firms

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) is likely to issue new guidelines for life insurance products on February 8 after taking a final review on the same day.

New guidelines for life products soon

&lsquo;We will help you stay fit&rsquo; seems to be the new mantra of many insurance companies. Three big players &mdash; ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance and Apollo Munich &mdash; have launched policies in tie-ups with spas, gymnasiums, yoga institutes, diagnostic centres and health food retailers to offer discounts to customers on these services and products.

Insurance for wellness

Formalities such as documentation and medical reports can be done in the foreign country.

Get a life insurance abroad

The Insurance Regulatory &amp; Development Authority (Irda) is planning to cap the charges on universal life policies, or ULPs. These have almost replaced unit-linked insurance plans (Ulips) in terms of new business.

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