Page 13 - The Insurance Times November 2024

have removed all entry barriers. The of the board, which were released on who presided over the meeting,
process of starting an insurance com- 28 October, read, “In view of the regu- summed up the insurance industry’s
pany is seamless now, and the regula- latory reforms underway, the last two performance for FY23-24 (the financial
tory nods take less time," he said, add- years witnessed the entry of more in- year ended 31 March 2024). The mar-
ing that it is now the companies them- surers into the sector with the market ket grew by 7.5% to INR11.17tn
selves that are seeking more time. expanding. ($133bn) in terms of premium. The life
insurance branch grew by 6%, while
He mentioned a range of investors “The industry is also gearing up to align
that can now participate in the with global standards in terms of the general insurers grew by 12.78%.
country's insurance market, including implementation of Risk-Based Capital, In 1QFY2025 (April-June 2024), overall
private equity institutions, venture Ind AS (Indian Accounting Standards; premiums totalled INR2.60tn with a
capitalists, and family offices. converged IFRS), and a Risk-Based Su- growth rate of 14.50% over the corre-
pervisory Framework. For carrying out sponding quarter in 2023. While life
IRDAI to expand manage- an enhanced and effective supervisory insurers grew by 14.70%, general in-
function in the revamped regulatory surers grew by 13.33%.
ment headcount over next framework, there is a need to scale up

3 years resources, particularly human re- IRDAI tightens fraud rules
The board of the IRDAI has approved sources. post hacking incidents
a timetable to hire 120 management “It is, therefore, proposed to increase
The Insurance Regulatory and Devel-
officials at the assistant manager (AM) the sanctioned strength in the entry opment Authority of India (IRDAI) has
level in the next three years to cope grade of AMs to 225 by the end of the proposed stricter guidelines in an effort
with the growing workload at the regu- year 2027, by recruiting 40 AMs each to stem online fraud after recent high-
lator. year, starting from 2025. “
profile cases at insurers like Star Health
Minutes of a 2 August 2024 meeting IRDAI chairman Mr Debasish Panda, Insurance Company.

The Insurance Fraud Monitoring
IRDAI to Intensify Cyber-security Oversight Follow- Framework Guidelines, 2024 requires
insurers to adopt strict measures, in-
ing Star Health Incident cluding board-approved anti-fraud poli-
The IRDAI is intensifying scrutiny of cyber security lapses in the insurance cies, independent Fraud Monitoring
sector after Star Health Insurance, one of the country's largest health in- Units (FMUs), enhanced cybersecurity
surers, suffered a major data breach. defences, and regular fraud awareness
Over 31 million customers' sensitive personal information was allegedly sold programmes.
to hackers, seen as one of the most severe breaches in the insurance indus- "Cyber fraud can have far-reaching
try. consequences, including identity im-
"IRDAI sees this data leak as a very serious issue," a person said, adding personation, financial frauds,
that other insurers would also need to review their data security policies. reputational damage etc," IRDAI said
"As more sensitive data flows into insurance firms, there is a need for stron- in the draft guidelines. "Personal infor-
ger cybersecurity. The regulator wants to ensure that every insurer applies mation such as KYC details, financial
the best possible security measures, including regular audits and updates details, and medical records are highly
to safeguard data." coveted by cybercriminals, who exploit
vulnerabilities in security defences to
IRDAI will wait for an audit report to identify the gaps and issue instruc-
gain unauthorised access to these sen-
tions. The regulator has asked Star Health to extensively audit the company's sitive data available with insurers or
cybersecurity framework. The audit, led by an external firm, is expected to distribution channels."
identify control gaps and recommend compliance measures to prevent fu-
The regulator has asked insurers to
ture data thefts.
implement a board-approved anti-
The breach, linked to the company's chief information security officer (CISO) fraud policy aimed at ensuring zero
Amarjeet Khanuja, surfaced after a hacker going by the alias "xenZen" tolerance for fraud, outline steps for
claimed Khanuja had sold the data and later tried to renegotiate for more fraud detection, internal controls, and
money in exchange for continued backdoor access. investigative processes.

12 November 2024 The Insurance Times