Policy Holder Protection

     

The most important regulations governing protection of policyholders interest is the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Protection of Policyholders’ Interests) Regulations, 2002

In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (zc) of sub-section (2) of section 114A of the Insurance Act, 1938 (4 of 1938) read with sections 14 and 26 of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999 (41 of 1999), the Authority, in consultation with the Insurance Advisory Committee, made the regulations. Let us have a brief look at some of the important regulations specified.

Point of Sale

(1) Notwithstanding anything mentioned in regulation 2(e) above, a prospectus of any insurance product shall clearly state the scope of benefits, the extent of insurance cover and in an explicit manner explain the warranties, exceptions and conditions of the insurance cover and, in case of life insurance, whether the product is participating (with-profits) or non-participating (without-profits). The allowable rider or riders on the product shall be clearly spelt out with regard to their scope of benefits, and in no case, the premium relatable to all the riders put together shall exceed 30% of the premium of the main product.

Proposal for insurance

(1) Except in cases of a marine insurance cover, where current market practices do not insist on a written proposal form, in all cases, a proposal for grant of a cover, either for life business or for general business, must be evidenced by a written document. It is the duties of an insurer to furnish to the insured free of charge, within 30 days of the acceptance of a proposal, a copy of the proposal form.

Grievance redressal procedure

Every insurer shall have in place proper procedures and effective mechanism to address complaints and grievances of policyholders efficiently and with speed and the same along-with the information in respect of Insurance Ombudsman shall be communicated to the policyholder along-with the

 policy document and as maybe found necessary.

Matters to be stated in general insurance policy

(1) A general insurance policy shall clearly state:

(a)          the name(s) and address(es) of the insured and of any bank(s) or any other person having financial interest in the subject matter of insurance;

(b)          full description of the property or interest insured;

(c)           the location or locations of the property or interest insured under the policy and, where appropriate, with respective insured values;

(d)          period of Insurance;

(e)          sums insured;

(f)           perils covered and not covered;

(h)          any franchise or deductible applicable;

(i)            premium payable and where the premium is provisional subject to adjustment, the basis of adjustment of premium be stated;

(j)           policy terms, conditions and warranties;

(k)          action to be taken by the insured upon occurrence of a contingency likely to give rise to a claim under the policy;

(l)            the obligations of the insured in relation to the subject matter of insurance upon occurrence of an event giving rise to a claim and the rights of the insurer in the circumstances;

(m)         any special conditions attaching to the policy;

(n)          provision for cancellation of the policy on grounds of mis-representation, fraud, non-disclosure of material facts or non-cooperation of the insured;

(o)          the address of the insurer to which all communications in respect of the insurance contract should be sent;

(p)          the details of the riders attaching to the main policy;

(q)          proforma of any communication the insurer may seek from the policyholders to service the policy.

 

(2) Every insurer shall inform and keep informed periodically the insured on the requirements to be fulfilled by the insured regarding lodging of a claim arising in terms of the policy and the procedures to be followed by him to enable the insurer to settle a claim early.

Claim procedure in respect of a general insurance policy

(1) An insured or the claimant shall give notice to the insurer of any loss arising under contract of insurance at the earliest or within such extended time as may be allowed by the insurer. On receipt of such a communication, a general insurer shall respond immediately and give clear indication to the insured on the procedures that he should follow. In cases where a surveyor has to be appointed for assessing a loss/ claim, it shall be so done within 72 hours of the receipt of intimation from the insured.

 (2) Where the insured is unable to furnish all the particulars required by the surveyor or where the surveyor does not receive the full cooperation of the insured, the insurer or the surveyor as the case may be, shall inform in writing the insured about the delay that may result in the assessment of the claim. The surveyor shall be subjected to the code of conduct laid down by the Authority while assessing the loss, and shall communicate his findings to the insurer within 30 days of his appointment with a copy of the report being furnished to the insured, if he so desires. Where, in special circumstances of the case, either due to its special and complicated nature, the surveyor shall under intimation to the insured, seek an extension from the insurer for submission of his report. In no case shall a surveyor take more than six months from the date of his appointment to furnish his report.

 (3) If an insurer, on the receipt of a survey report, finds that it is incomplete in any respect, he shall require the surveyor under intimation to the insured, to furnish an additional report on certain specific issues as may be required by the insurer. Such a request may be made by the insurer within 15 days of the receipt of the original survey report.

Provided that the facility of calling for an additional report by the insurer shall not be resorted to more than once in the case of a claim.

 (4) The surveyor on receipt of this communication shall furnish an additional report within three weeks of the date of receipt of communication from the insurer.

 (5) On receipt of the survey report or the additional survey report, as the case may be, an insurer shall within a period of 30 days offer a settlement of the claim to the insured. If the insurer, for any reasons to be recorded in writing and communicated to the insured, decides to reject a claim under the policy, it shall do so within a period of 30 days from the receipt of the survey report or the additional survey report, as the case may be.

 (6) Upon acceptance of an offer of settlement as stated in sub-regulation (5) by the insured, the payment of the amount due shall be made within 7 days from the date of acceptance of the offer by the insured. In the cases of delay in the payment, the insurer shall be liable to pay interest at a rate which is 2% above the bank rate prevalent at the beginning of the financial year in which the claim is reviewed by it.

 Policyholders’ Servicing

(1) An insurer carrying on life or general business, as the case may be, shall at all times, respond within 10 days of the receipt of any communication from its policyholders in all matters, such as:

(a)          recording change of address;

(b)          noting a new nomination or change of nomination under a policy;

(c)           noting an assignment on the policy;

(d)          providing information on the current status of a policy indicating matters, such as, accrued bonus, surrender value and entitlement to a loan;

(e)          processing papers and disbursal of a loan on security of policy;

(f)           issuance of duplicate policy;

(g) issuance of an endorsement under the policy; noting a change of interest or sum assured or perils insured, financial interest of a bank and other interests; and

(h) guidance on the procedure for registering a claim and early settlement thereof.

 General

(1) The requirements of disclosure of “material information” regarding a proposal or policy apply, under these regulations, both to the insurer and the insured.

(2) The policyholder shall assist the insurer, if the latter so requires, in the prosecution of a proceeding or in the matter of recovery of claims which the insurer has against third parties.

(3) The policyholder shall furnish all information that is sought from him by the insurer and also any other information which the insurer considers as having a bearing on the risk to enable the latter to assess properly the risk sought to be covered by a policy.

(4) Any breaches of the obligations cast on an insurer or insurance agent or insurance intermediary in terms of these regulations may enable the Authority to initiate action against each or all of them, jointly or severally, under the Act and/or the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999.

Policyholder Protection Committee

IRDAI has put forth many measures to protect the policyholders’ interests. Insurers have been told to strengthen their grievance redress procedures, consumer complaint resolving procedures where they are found weak. An important step taken by IRDAI is that it has made it compulsory that each company forms a Policyholder Protection Committee in the Board of Directors. This is part of the Corporate Governance guidelines issued by IRDA and will have the effect of ensuring that insurers’ internal systems are monitored effectively at the highest level of the company, that is, the Board.

Policyholder’s protection committee is responsible for overseeing the interest of policyholders of the company. The committee is headed by independent director though not mandatory. The other members are the CEO , Compliance officer, CFO, Head Customer service. The general agenda items include review of customer complaints, unclaimed policy deposit and claim performance of the company.  

IRDAI has always looked out for insurance policyholder's interest as evidenced by IRDAI (Protection of Policy Holders' Interests) Regulations 2002. With changes in the products offered, especially in the life segment, IRDAI has come out with a new set of regulations to protect the interest of the policyholder, with effect from January 2014. These new regulations are seen as a move towards making life insurance policies more transparent and efficient

These regulations have improved the policyholder's benefits, reduce complaints of wrong selling and bring transparency and clarity to a field where misconceptions and lack of awareness still exist

The Draft of IRDA (Protection of Policyholders Interest) Regulations, 2014 along with Annexures has  been placed on the website of IRDA (www.irda.gov.in) and consumer education website of IRDA (www.policyholder.gov.in) for inviting public comments from all stakeholders.

There are many regulations which have been put in place by IRDAI & needs compliance to by all insurers, intermediaries with the sole aim of ensuring protection of policy holder’s interest. We list few of the important regulations / guidelines.

  • Health insurance regulations 2016
  • Standardization of health insurance guidelines
  • Advertisements guidelines
  • Motor insurance partial loss claim
  • Portability & renewability of health insurance
  • Insurance repository system
  • Free look period
  • Warnings & penalties
  • e insurance policy
  • Rejection of claim