Monthly data norm makes insurers sweat

Insurance companies are feeling the heat to push volumes as they are forced  to focus on the topline and build their premium income.

This is as a result of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority publishing company results on a month-to-month basis.

The life insurance industry will take up the reporting issue with the Irda at the council meeting on Wednesday.

Fiat pressure

Irda seeks monthly financial reporting from insurers. Regulator insists on publication of the figures in the Irda Journal as also in other media. Insurers to take up the issue with the watchdog at a meeting on Wednesday.

"Focusing on the topline forces the management to push for collection of premium volumes. Market perception gets created in that direction and we thus need to manage this pressure," said Max New York Life Insurance Company CEO Anuroop Tony Singh.

"The life insurance council is meeting to look into this aspect as the monthly figures are not audited and there could be misclassification of data. We are pressurised by the promoters as to why we are not ranked amongst the top three-or-four," said a senior official with a Mumbai-based life insurance company.

Three years into the privatisation of the insurance sector, private sector players, both on the life and non-life side, have been able to garner about 10 per cent market share.

However, some are feeling the heat as the insurance regulator insists on monthly reporting of figures and these get published in the Irda Journal and the media.

The foreign partner with its 26 per cent realises that insurance is a long-term game and it is not necessarily premiums one should go after.

On the other hand, the Indian partner, who has put in 74 per cent of the total investment is more inclined to see returns coming in, which he might feel would be possible with rising premiums.

"Only focusing on the new business garnered and not on the total business performance, as well as frequent reporting on these numbers does not achieve much," said Watson Wyatt senior consultant Sanket Kawatkar.

There is a need to move towards like-to-like comparison, he added, citing the example of how both group gratuity and group term cover get combined under the single group premium head when the two are not comparable.