Page 57 - Insurance Times December 2023

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Particigation in Account Aqqreqator (AA) 7. The FIUs in the insurance sector are encouraged to
make AA related applications multilingual to make it
Framework as Financial Information User
user friendly.
03.11.2023
8. The FIUs in the insurance sector shall also abide by the
code of conduct as specified in the IRDAI regulations/
1. This has reference to the IRDAI circular ref: IRDA/IID/ guidelines/circulars applicable to them, including
CIR/MISC/229/11/2022 dated 14th Nov 2022 and Mas-
redressal of grievances of the customers.
ter Direction - Non-Banking Financial Company- Account
Aggregator (Reserve Bank) Directions, 2016 dated 2nd 9. Needless to add that the FlUs in the insurance sector shall
September, 2016 issued by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) continue to comply with all the regulatory provisions
vide ref. DNBR.PD.009/03.10.119/2016-17 on participa- under the Insurance Act 1938, IRDA Act 1999 and the
tion of insurers in the Account Aggregator (AA) frame- regulations/ guidelines/circulars framed there under.
work.
Revision of Customer Information Sheet
2. Attention is drawn to the para 3(1)(xii) of the RBI Mas-
ter Direction which defines Financial Information User 30.10.2023
(FIU) as under: 1. It is important for a policyholder to understand the
"Financial information user means an entity registered terms and conditions of the policy that has been pur-
with and regulated by any financial sector regulator." chased. Since a policy document may be fraught with

3. In this regard, it is advised that FIUs from insurance sec- legalese, it is imperative to have a document that ex-
tor are expected to adopt the technical specifications (Fi- plains in simple words, the basic features with regard
nancial Information Type Schemas) published by Reserve to the policy and provides necessary information.
Bank Information Technology Private Limited (ReBlT), as 2. With the above objective in mind, the customer infor-
updated from time to time. mation sheet (CIS) has been devised and is to be pro-
4. The Financial Information, as defined in para 3(1) (ix) of vided by insurers to all policyholders.
the RBI Master Direction, provided by Financial Informa- 3. It is observed that several complaints are still emanat-
tion Provider (FIP), shall not be used or disclosed by FIUs ing as a result of asymmetry of information between
except as may be specified in the consent artefact. insurer and the policyholder.
5. The FIUs in insurance sector must disclose prominently 4. In this backdrop, the existing customer information
on their websites the names of the Account Aggregators sheet has been improved and now seeks to convey ba-
through which the information is obtained. sic information about the policy purchased in a manner
6. The FIUs in insurance sector shall obtain and use Finan- that is easily understood.
cial Information that are required to perform functions 5. The revised format of CIS (Annexure-A) shall be imple-
specified in its respective regulatory instructions. mented w.e.f. 01.01.2024.

The Insurance Times December 2023 51