Insurance Brokers

Investment Functions of Insurers and Insurance Brokers: On A Short Rope or Ample Wiggle Room?

Summary: This blog broadly outlines the IRDAI’s prescriptive investment framework for insurers, permissible asset classes thereunder, limited applicability to insurance brokers, and the regulatory intent behind these norms. It also highlights proposed amendments to the investments regulatory framework, granting insurers greater flexibility to invest in private companies while maintaining governance safeguards. For comprehensive, insurer-specific, or instrument-specific details, it is important to refer to the full text of IRDAI’s investments regulatory framework.Continue Reading Investment Functions of Insurers and Insurance Brokers: On A Short Rope or Ample Wiggle Room?

Indranath Bishnu and Ayushi Agrawal

Insurance Brokers Association of India projects insurance broking sector to capture a 45 per cent market share by 2030 following increased insurance penetration and the demand for insurance productsOver the past couple of years, the Indian insurance industry has seen a series of significant transformations and new developments. Modified regulations, liberalisation of commission regimes, and proposals for amendment of regulatory architecture have opened new avenues of growth for the insurance broking industry. Continue Reading Mergers and Acquisitions in the Indian Insurance Broking Space

Liberalisation of Foreign Investment in Insurance Brokers - Budget 2019

Around noon on Friday, July 4th, 2019, the Hon’ble Minister of Finance, in her budget speech to the nation, proposed revisions to the existing foreign investment caps applicable to insurance brokers and other insurance intermediaries in order to allow 100% foreign direct investment (“FDI”). This move was long overdue on the government’s part, particularly in relation to insurance brokers. In fact, a proposal for liberalising foreign investment caps for insurance brokers has been on the drafting table of the Government of India for close to two years now. In the past, a number of representations had also been made by market participants to the various departments of the government highlighting the need to differentiate foreign investment norms for insurance brokers and insurance companies, and to not treat insurance brokers in parity with insurance companies, in so far as foreign investment is concerned[1].
Continue Reading Budget Special : The Liberalisation of Foreign Investment in Insurance Brokers – A Shot in the Arm