Page 52 - Insurance Times April 2017 Special Issue on Newindia

Role of a point

of sale person

in insurance

T o increase insurance pen- for such products is minimal and the cational qualification of such persons is
Class 10 and they should be 18 years of
etration in the country, the
training and exams for such persons
age at least. Earlier, as per the rules,
industry needs more dis-
could be of a lesser degree than those
tributors to travel the last
stitute of Electronics and Information
mile. To achieve that goal, for a full-fledged distributor. IRDAI had appointed the National In-
what's needed is a simple certification In fact, last year in November, IRDAI Technology (NIELIT) to conduct the
process for these distributors. So, to had allowed the life insurance industry examination of certificate for point of
get such distributors on board quickly, to use point of sale persons to sell life sale persons.
the Insurance Regulatory and Develop- insurance products. For this, it identi-
ment Authority of India (IRDAI), in fied products that are simple to under- But in a notification dated 7 February,
2015, allowed for a new type of dis- stand, and in which the benefits are IRDAI removed this condition for the
tributor, called the point of sale (PoS) stated upfront and they are fixed and life insurance industry. Training and
person. predefined. certification from NIELIT is no longer
mandatory. As per an insurance official,
Given that these individuals have a Accordingly, IRDAI identified pure-term this was done after representations
lower qualification and training thresh- insurance plans with and without re- were made to the regulator that this
old, compared to other insurance dis- turn of premium, non-linked (non-par- could hamper quick on-boarding of
tributors such as agents, brokers and ticipating) endowment plans that state point of sales persons.
corporate agents, IRDAI has allowed the investment benefits upfront and
these individuals to sell only basic insur- immediate annuity as products that Accordingly, IRDAI has allowed in-house
ance products, which don't require a can be sold by the point of sale persons. training by the insurer or intermediary
lot of underwriting.
engaging the point of sale persons.
And this year, in order to ensure faster They will have to conduct an in-house
Mandate of a point of sale certification of point of sale persons, training of 15 hours and an examina-

person the regulator has relaxed the certifica- tion thereafter. The insurer or the in-
tion programme by allowing the insur- termediary will then issue a certificate
As per the regulator, products such as
ers or intermediaries hiring them to and maintain the records for at least 5
motor insurance, travel insurance and
train and examine these individuals in- years.
personal accident insurance require
house.
very little underwriting as they are
based on information provided by the IRDAI has, however, prescribed a model
prospect. Also, such insurance policies A new training programme syllabus for training purposes. As per
are automatically generated by the Point of sales persons can be engaged the insurers we spoke to, the syllabus
system. either directly by insurers or by inter- has been drafted by the Life Insurance
mediaries such as corporate agents and Council and IRDAI, and will be used by
Therefore, the intervention required insurance brokers. The minimum edu- all the insurers. (Source : Mint)

52 The Insurance Times, April 2017

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