Iob To Be Corporate Agent For National Insurance

The Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Insurance Company Ltd (NICL) for taking up corporate agency for marketing the NICL products.

This is the first MoU to be signed after the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) permitted last year corporates to take up marketing of insurance products. IOB has 1,430 branches and 239 extension counters all over India. IOB has identified 151 branches for selling NICL products initially.

M K Tandon, chairman and managing director of NICL said: "Initially, we would like to sell our personal line of products to IOB's customers". He hoped that partnership with IOB would be able to provide more variety and convenience to customers.

 

When asked whether NICL is in talks with other banks, he replied that talks were being currently going on with major banks and added that NICL would prefer to wait for the present partnership to mature before entering into any other MoU. IRDA had also stipulated that all the directors have to undergo training and pass tests.

Under the present IRDA regulation, insurance companies, both life and non-life, can enter into multiple corporate partnerships including banks whereas the corporate are allowed to have only one partnerships. "Though the present IRDA guidelines have allowed us to have multiple partnerships, it is becoming difficult to rope in major public sector banks as they are yet to make up their mind," Tandon said.

S C Gupta, chairman and managing director of IOB said: "IOB would emerge as a new distribution channel for insurance products which would benefit both the clients of the bank and the insurance company. The bank under its corporate agency will help the Insurance company to handle the claims of customers in an integrated manner with speedy settlement."

IOB is looking at the possibility of roping in its 3500 ex- employees who had opted for the voluntary retirement scheme, as agents.