Skip to main content

Customer Focus, Efficiency to Drive Insurance Companies

2010 PROVED a watershed for life insurance companies and customers. The new Ulip regulations that came into force in September 2010 changed the face of the life insurance business with customer centricity and efficiency becoming the industry's new buzzwords. These will continue to be the defining factors for developments in the realm during the current year, but at a much accelerated pace.


   The initial months after the regulations took effect saw both customers and insurance companies tread with caution. Sales progressed slowly with companies introducing two-to-three near similar Ulips to test new ground, leading to commentaries of non-differentiation between offerings by different players. However, the regulatory changes augured well for all stakeholders and by the end of the year, customer interest and sales picked up substantially, giving insurance companies the much needed confidence boost to introduce newer and more innovative products. Insurers have progressively started introducing such products covering areas including, child plans and single invest plans. This trend should pick up pace in the current year. Single invest plans especially are expected to witness good investor interest given their attractiveness as an excellent investment vehicle. Enhancing efficiencies and thereby productivity of delivery channels is the central challenge for insurance companies in the new regulatory environment.


   Renewed emphasis will be placed on highly efficient channels such as Bancassurance which, in turn, will considerably gain in strength and leverage. A significant proportion of insurance is still sold through individual agents. Managing this channel effectively is the key to ensuring persistency. One can expect developments that will seek to strengthen the effectiveness and commitment of the agency force to ensure that the customer receives consistent level of service through the policy term besides reduce the number of orphan policies (a term used to denote those policies whose agents are no longer active). Further, mandatory need-based selling whereby insurance agents will be required to assess the customer's exact insurance needs based on his financial and personal profile may become an integral part of the sale process. This should check mis-selling. Companies on their own accord can also be expected to add check layers to weed out any remaining scope of mis-selling.


   ll these necessitate greater commitment by the insurers to agent education which will result in better quality of advice, reducing customer churn and improving persistency — a key for insurers to succeed in the new reality. New and innovative outreach mediums that not only rationalise cost but also find increasing customer acceptance such as online and mobile platforms are expected to gain significant traction going forward. Some insurance companies have already introduced products exclusively designed and structured for online selling.


   The overall cost of insurance has progressively reduced over the past decade, and this trend will continue in the time to come. While premiums on pure-term policies have dropped by a 50%-60%, commission as a percentage of premium has also reduced from 9.1%-7% over the past five years. This has enhanced the appeal of insurance and brought it within the easy reach of millions. Further, with the country's GDP and savings rate growing phenomenally, interest in investment products per se is expected to scale up significantly. Insurance, with its safety premise and longterm investment appeal, should significantly benefit from these factors.
 

Happy Investing!!

We can help. Call 0 94 8300 8300 (India)

Leave your comment with mail ID and we will answer them

OR

You can write back to us at PrajnaCapital [at] Gmail [dot] Com

 

---------------------------------------------

Invest Mutual Funds Online

Transact Mutual Fund Online

Download Mutual Fund Application Forms from all AMCs

Download Mutual Fund Application Forms

Best Performing Mutual Funds

    1. Largecap Funds Invest Online
      1. DSP BlackRock Top 100 Fund
      2. ICICI Prudential Focused Blue Chip Fund
      3. Birla Sun Life Front Line Equity Fund
    2. Large and Midcap Funds Invest Online
      1. ICICI Prudential Dynamic Plan
      2. HDFC Top 200 Fund
      3. UTI Dividend Yield Fund
    1. Mid and SmallCap Funds Invest Online
      1. Reliance Equity Opportunities Fund
      2. DSP BlackRock Small & Midcap Fund
      3. Sundaram Select Midcap
      4. IDFC Premier Equity Fund
    1. Small and MicroCap Funds Invest Online
      1. DSP BlackRock MicroCap Fund
    1. Sector Funds Invest Online
      1. Reliance Banking Fund
      2. Reliance Banking Fund
    1. Tax Saver Mutual  Funds  Invest Online
      1. ICICI Prudential Tax Plan
      2. HDFC Taxsaver
      3. DSP BlackRock Tax Saver Fund
      4. Reliance Tax Saver (ELSS) Fund
    2. Gold Mutual Funds Invest Online
      1. Relaince Gold Savings Fund
      2. ICICI Prudential Regular Gold Savings Fund
      3. HDFC Gold Fund

 

Popular posts from this blog

Mutual Fund Exit Load Changes

Download Tax Saving Mutual Fund Application Forms Invest In Tax Saving Mutual Funds Online Buy Gold Mutual Funds Leave a missed Call on 94 8300 8300 Mutual Fund Exit Load Changes AMCs don't communicate about any change in exit load directly with investors, but do update on their website   The exit load applicable to your investments is the load which existed at the time when you invested in the particular fund. Any subsequent changes in the exit load will not be applicable to your investments.   However, Asset Management Companies ( AMCs ) periodically publish addendums in the newspapers, which state any change in exit loads of specific schemes managed by them. Such changes are also posted on their websites. However, a direct communication to an investor is not made, considering the costs involved in doing so. In their own interests, investors should not only track the performance of the funds they i...

Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund Launches Birla Sun Life NIFTY ETF

Birla Sun Life has launched a new fund namely, Birla Sun Life Nifty ETF, an open ended exchange traded fund. The new fund will be open for subscription from 4th July to 18th July 2011, at an offer price of Rs 10 per unit. The investment objective of the scheme is to generate returns that closely correspond to the total returns of securities as represented by S&P CNX Nifty, subject to tracking errors. No exit load will be charged under the scheme. The performance of the scheme will be benchmarked against S&P CNX Nifty and will be managed by Satyabrata Mohanty.   -----------------------------------------------------------------   Also, know how to buy mutual funds online:   1) DSP BlackRock Mutual Funds: http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/05/buying-dsp-blackrock-mutual-funds.html   2) Reliance Mutual Funds: http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/06/buying-reliance-mutual-funds-online.html   3) Birla Sunlife Mutual Funds: http://prajnacapital.blogspot.com/2011/...

Atal Pension Yojana contribution Tax Benefit for spouse

Contributions to Atal Pension Yojana (APY) are eligible for the same tax benefits as the NPS. This means that the contributions can be claimed under Section 80CCD (1B). The current limit for Section 80CCD (1B) is   Rs   50,000, over and above the   Rs   1.5 lakh limit under Section 80C. Section 80 CCD (1) is a different one, meant to cover employers' contribution towards NPS . You cannot get tax benefit by investing in the name of your spouse under Section 80 CCD . ------------------------------ ----------------- Invest Rs 1,50,000 and Save Tax under Section 80C. Get Great Returns by Investing in Best Performing ELSS Mutual Funds Top 10 Tax Saver Mutual Funds to invest in India for 2016 Best 10 ELSS Mutual Funds in India for 2016 1. BNP Paribas Long Term Equity Fund 2. Axis Tax Saver Fund 3. Religare Tax Plan 4. DSP BlackRock Tax Saver Fund 5. Franklin India TaxShield 6. ICICI Prudential Long Term Equity Fund 7. IDFC Tax Advantage (ELSS) Fund 8. Birla Sun Life Tax Relief 96 9. ...

Mutual Fund Reivew: Birla Sun Life Asset Allocation Conservative

Birla Sun Life Asset Allocation Conservative has numbers on its side to prove its credibility… Don't be surprised to find this Fund of Funds ( FoF ) in our recommendations. It has earned its place. And despite the difference in the structure of the product, there is no arguing with the numbers.   Of the total 6 years of its existence, the fund has been among the top 10 funds in its category in four of them. Last year it put up an average show and the only year it underperformed its peers was in 2008.   One aspect to look at when investing in an FoF is the expense ratio. The expense ratio of an FoF is capped at a lower limit of 0.75 per cent (2.50% for an actively managed fund). However, the FoF not only has its own expense (though lower) but even the expense ratio of the fund it is investing into. Fortunately, the fund manager takes that into account. "Expense is one of the important criteria used for fund selection and is the main reason for our investment in BSL Ind...

Short-Term Investment Options in Mutual Funds

Mutual funds offer liquid funds and ultra short term funds in the debt category, which are suitable for short investment periods. Ultra short-term funds were earlier known as liquid plus funds. Liquid funds invest in money market instruments with a maturity of 91 days or less. However, there are no such restrictions for ultra short-term funds. Who should invest in these? These are open-ended schemes. Investors with a short investment horizon or with surplus cash and low risk appetite should look at these. These could include corporate as well as retail investors. Those interested in staying invested for less than 15 days can opt for liquid funds. Retail investors who want to remain invested for two-four months, can look at ultra short-term funds. The short duration for both liquid and ultra short-term funds shields them from any interest rate volatility.   What kind of returns do they offer? In terms of an investment period less than 15 days, these funds are comparable to a ba...
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Invest in Tax Saving Mutual Funds Download Any Applications
Transact Mutual Funds Online Invest Online
Buy Gold Mutual Funds Invest Now