Page 15 - Insurance Times March 2016 Sample

Kotak Life hopes to close FY16 at Rs 3,500 cr premium Private insurers meeting

Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life Insur- ness premiums and Rs. 1,500 crore only narrow investment
ance is expecting to close the current renewal premiums.
financial year with total premium col- needs: McKinsey
lection of about Rs. 3,500 "As this is the tax savings season,
crore, according to its Se- about 35-40 per cent of the India's life insurance sector has
nior Executive Vice-Presi- total business for the life underperformed
dent and Chief Distribution insurance industry gener- compared to
Officer Suresh Agarwal. ally happens during these its Asian
three months,''Agarwal peers, says a
Last year, Kotak Life Insur- said. A few group insurance report by
ance earned Rs. 1,400 crore new busi-
products are expected to launch soon. McKinsey & Company. The report
says none of the private insurers are
Max Life Insurance launches new logo after untying creating value of the type indicated
by the potential, all of them serving
with Max India Ltd a minuscule segment, mainly to
meet narrow investment needs.
Private insurer Max Life Insurance has press release. Max Life Insurance is a
introduced its new logo in line with re- joint-venture between Max Financial Even within this confined space, says
cent separation of Max India Ltd. "The Services Ltd and Mitsui Sumitomo Insur- the report, they demonstrate a sig-
logo has been redesigned to nificant spread in performance,
make it more contemporary ance Co. Ltd of Japan. Max which is driven largely by distribution
while retaining the essence Financial Services owns strategy. "While most carriers offer
of its existing components and manages a 72.1 per affluent consumers a similar product
that project the focus of the cent stake in Max Life In- mix, including a high share of invest-
company on being committed to doing surance. Max Financial ment-focused Unit-Linked Insurance
what is right while securing the finan- Services Limited (MFS), a part of the Plans (Ulips), a few have outper-
cial futures of our customers", said a USD 2 billion Max Group, is the holding formed by investing in their distribu-
company for Max Life. tion channels."

AIA gets approval from CCI to buy 23% more in Tata It added the leaders tend to focus on
AIA Life bancassurance, for example, and le-
verage partnerships with banks to
The Competition Commission of India not disclose the financial details. In a expand scale and brand, to grow
has approved AIA group's 23 per cent tweet, the Competition Commission of market share and profit margins.
additional stake purchase in its life in- India (CCI) said it "approves acquisition
surance joint venture with It says unlike other markets, growth
the Tata group. of additional 23 per cent in India's life insurance sector is cor-
shares in Tata AIA Life In- related more closely to equity mar-
AIA, which holds 26 per surance Company Ltd by ket performance than rising gross
cent stake in Tata AIA Life AIA International Ltd". domestic product. For over a de-
Insurance Company, will cade, it says, the private segment
raise it to 49 per cent with Tata AIA Life Insurance, has delivered overall returns far be-
the acquisition. which started operations in low the cost of capital and even be-
2001, offers a wide array of life insur- low those in other Asian markets.
However, while announcing the deal in ance solutions that cover protection,
December last year, the company did savings and wealth creation needs. The report also said insurers, rather
than trying to build the skills of
KKR bets on life insurance sector with 10% stake agents to sell higher margin protec-
tion products as affluence rises, con-
Private equity major KKR has acquired 9.95 per cent stake in Max Financial tinue to chase revenue-focused
Services, becoming the latest global player looking to grab a share in the Rs growth in the hope of building scale
3.5-lakh crore Indian life insurance sector. Max Financial Services is the newly and growing their way out of the
demerged entity of the Max Group that owns an approximate 72 per cent stake profitability challenge.
in Max Life, country's fourth-largest private life insurance player.

The Insurance Times, March 2016 15