IRDA Allows Banks to Sell Insurance Products of Multiple Companies

. The Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority (IRDA) is likely to permit banks to sell insurance products of more than one company. . The move will allow banks to retail insurance products and not just be distributor for one insurer.

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A panel, set up by the IRDA to look into bancassurance, is finalizing its report, an IRDA official said.

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From 2002, IRDA had allowed bancassurance. . A bank was allowed to act as an agent for only one life and one general insurer according to the norms. . Bancassurance is a delivery channel in which an insurance company uses a bank’’s sales channel to sell its products. . At present, bancassurance garners more than a quarter of the entire premium collected by the insurance industry.

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Combining scheduled commercial banks, co-operative banks and regional rural development banks, India has close to 1,70,000 bank branches.

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IRDA has been concerned about tie-ups between banks and insurance companies and is considering a regulatory framework for an open architecture for such arrangements

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