ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has taken the lead in the insurance industry by beginning to provide professional training to its sales force.
The leading private sector life insurer has tied up with Pennsylvania-based American College for providing professional education to its agents.
ICICI Prudential's first 86 insurance advisors (agents) passed the first module of Life Underwriter Training Council certification course through American College's New Delhi-based affiliate, International Academy of Insurance and Financial Management. The 12-month course makes up of six modules, with trading in module costing Rs 3,500 per head.
ICICI Prudential MD and CEO Shikha Sharma said the company sent 86 of its top 100 advisors for the course, adding that the company plans to get all their advisors trained in a phased manner.
It currently has 60,000-strong sales force and the cost of training all of them for just one module would add up to Rs 21 crore (Rs 210 million).
"We feel that training is an ongoing process. So besides (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority) IRDA's mandatory 100 hours training process, the company is offering advanced certifications. Our advisors are the face of the company and we should partner with them to provide better services to our customers," she said.
The LUTC program comprises six modules adapted to the Indian market needs, with the ethics module being the first. The ethics module helps advisors with a framework for ethical decision-making, including customer sensitivity exercises and decision processes.
It also discuses categories of investments, types of investment risk, and risk management. Nearly 70,000 advisors from 25 countries are LUTC certified.
