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IRDA has the final word on visiting cards also

Sidhartha

The next time Life Insurance Corporation gets a new chairman, it will not only have to inform the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority about the appointment, but will also be required to dispatch his visiting card to the regulator. The incumbent will have to wait till the regulator formally vets the visiting card.

The same holds true for all insurance companies, be they the public sector players or the new private entrants in the insurance market. The IRDA has stipulated "file and use" guidelines for visiting cards just like the ones issued for advertisements by insurance companies.

While some insurance companies view "file and use" for things other than product launches as "over-regulation," others are hopeful that the norms will be changed once the market is suitably developed.

"The whole idea is to protect the interests of consumers and ensure that they are not taken for a ride. The Indian market is at a nascent stage and the IRDA has also been given the task of developing the market," said an official there.

But visiting cards are not the only things for which file and use norms have been specified. There are guidelines for letterheads and for any communication sent out to policyholders and prospective customers. Even websites need clearance from the IRDA, claimed insurance companies.

As a result, whenever a new chief executive is appointed at an insurance company or just before the insurer commences operations in the newly liberalised Indian market, it has to send a sample visiting card to the IRDA.

Sources in the IRDA point out the case of a particular general insurance company, whose letterheads and visiting cards bore a name different from the one it had been registered under with the registrar of companies (RoC). The company in question had dropped three words - "Insurance Company Ltd" - from the cards and letterheads.

On the IRDA's insistence, the company had to stick to the name that had been used for registration. The only leniency granted was to permit the company to use its name in the abbreviated form as well.

In the case of websites, which also need IRDA sanction, officials in the regulatory body said that the idea is to ensure that the name and company details are spelt out clearly.

"The Internet is used for various purposes and by asking insurers to adhere to certain norms, we want to ensure that customers do not get confused," said a source.

He added that the regulator is also trying to ensure that insurance companies put down the benefits and the "don'ts" of the policy, as specified in the advertising guidelines.

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