Page 8 - Insurance Times April 2019

IRDAI

News

Reinsurance firms ap- Mrs. T L Alamelu appointed IRDAI member
Mrs. T L Alamelu, chairman, Agriculture Insurance Company
proach IRDAI for separate
(AIC), has been appointed as whole-time member of insur-
set of accounting norms ance regulator IRDAI, in-charge of non-life insurance by the
Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. The appointment,
which was notified on March 10, is for a period of three
years. First woman to head AIC, Alamelu will be third whole-
time woman member of IRDAI.
Mrs. Alamelu started her career as a direct recruit officer in New India Assur-
ance and rose to the position of director and general manager. In 2017 she was
appointed as chairman of the AIC. The non-life member in the IRDAI is an
Reinsurance companies have ap- important position given the developments around health, motor and crop
proached the IRDAI for a separate insurance requiring regulatory intervention. The appointment comes days
set of accounting and reporting before the IRDAI is expected to review the rates of motor third-party insurance
norms for the Reinsurers. for 2019-20.

At present, re-insurers in the coun- Aadhaar not mandatory for buying insurance: IRDAI
try, use the same reporting norms
prescribed by the regulator for insur- IRDAI has asked insurers to refrain from seeking
ance companies. Aadhaar from the proposer or policy holders. In a
circular, IRDAI said along with Aadhaar, insurers
The discussions come soon after the should not mandatorily seek PAN/Form 60 as part
IRDAI eased rules for foreign of Know Your Customer (KYC) norms.
reinsurers to create a more level However, the insurers may accept Aadhaar card as
playing field with GIC. one of the identity or address proof documents for
While the GIC Re continues to have KYC purpose subjected to certain conditions. They include voluntary offer of
the first right of refusal, foreign Aadhaar card, including physical copy of e-Aadhaar, masked Aadhar and offline
reinsurers can bid for the contracts Aadhaar, by customer as one of the documents for KYC purpose.
and win if they quote lower prices. The insurers will under no circumstances do the authentication either using e-
KYC facility or authentication facility of UIDAI. They should also ensure that the
Experts believe a separate set of re-
porting guidelines are necessary for first eight digits of the Aadhaar number are properly masked, according to the
circular. "At no point in time, more than last four digits of the Aadhaar number
reinsurers, as their nature of busi-
of any individual should be stored by the insurers in physical or digital form,''
ness and cashflows is different. "The the Authority said. The IRDAI has also withdrawn its own circular issued in
business of reinsurance is different August 2017 on Aadhaar based e-KYC.
from that of insurance, and so
the reporting norms have to be It may be recalled the Supreme Court in September 2018 ruled against manda-
different. tory use of Aadhaar in matter pertaining to the prevention of money launder-
ing, among others.

8 The Insurance Times, April 2019