The Dos and Don'ts for Insurance Marketing Firms in India

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The Dos and Don'ts for Insurance Marketing Firms in India

An Insurance Marketing Firm is a firm that markets insurance products and services. As per the IRDAI's defined legal terms, the Insurance Marketing Firm or IMF is an entity with authorization to undertake insurance solicitation activities in the market.

Dos of an Insurance Marketing Firm

An Insurance Marketing Firm must provide the following categories of services per the IRDAI's directive for the Insurance Corporate Entity.

An IMF must procure and solicit Insurance Policies

According to IRDA regulations, an IMF can procure and solicit insurance services. IRDAI put no virtual limit to the number of insurers an insurance company can engage with. As a marketing enterprise, the IMF can act as an intermediary. It can project itself as an Insurance Broker of insurance products and services to mediate between the insured and the insurer.

An IMF must provide Insurance Services

Every Insurance Marketing Firm has a unique way of establishing strategic alliances with other Insurance Intermediaries, such as the following:

·        Insurance Surveyors

·        Claim Loss Assessors

·         Insurance Repositories

·        TPAs etc.

The IMF can provide a plethora of services beyond their domain through such services. Some of the services that an Insurance Marketing Company can provide are listed in the following points:

·        Back-office assistance per the IRDA guidelines

·        Delegating as an Approved Officer for Insurance repositories

·        Inducting Insurance Surveyors and Loss Assessors in their Firm to provide surveying and assessment services

·        Other related services per the IRDA directives

An IMF can also market Financial Products

The marketing part of IMF services shines here. Being a marketing enterprise, the IMF can market the following financial products as per the IRDAI’s directives:

·        Mutual Funds of SEBI-regulated Firms

·        Pension products, as per the PFRDA regulations

·        Financial products under the SEBI-licensed investment advisors' regulations

·        Banking products sold by NBFC as per the RBI regulations

·        Non-Insurance products by the Department of Posts

·        Other financial products, as per the IRDAI’s regulations

Don't for an Insurance Marketing Firm

As per regulations 11 of the Registration of Insurance Marketing Firm Regulations of 2015, every Insurance Marketing Firm must not commit the following to grant the Insurance Marketing Firm license:

·        An Insurance Marketing Firm in India must indulge in soliciting insurance products of more than two life, two general, and two health insurance companies at a time.

·        An IMF must not misinform the authorities of any change in its business structure. The information disbursal must be clear and proper.

·        An IMF must not derelict to redress the filed grievances of its customers. It must swiftly act to resolve the complaint within 15 days.

·        An IMF must not violate the rules for conducting its business as per the IRDAI norms and regulations.

·        Any Marketing Firm must not conduct multi-level marketing or insurance product solicitation.

·        An IMF must not be non-compliant with the code of conduct related to the following:

o   FSE

o   Insurance Sales Person

·        An Insurance Marketing Firm Company must not leave the policies unsecured for the following purposes:

o   Business Commensuration

o   Number of recruited Salesperson

They must also comply with the requirements of other Government Authorities.

To know about the Insurance Marketing Firm registration procedure, connect with the IRDAI experts at Registrationwala.

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