Page 14 - Insurance Times December 2019

ICICI Prudential Life intro- Aviva Life faces IBC trial over ‘not paying landlord’

duces ICICI Pru Precious After the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) upheld a landlord’s claim
accusing the insurer of failing to meet its payment obli-
Life gations and ordered the commencement of the
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has company’s insolvency process, Aviva Life Insurance has
launched become the first financial company to be admitted into
ICICI Pru Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) proceedings.
P r ecious “Considering the circumstances, this tribunal is inclined to admit this petition
Life, offering and initiate CIRP of the corporate debtor (Aviva)”, said a 10-page order passed
life cover to by the NCLT. Aviva, which is a 51:49 JV between the Burman family that con-
customers trols Dabur and Britain’s Aviva Plc, has denied owing money to the landlord,
by factoring in the nuances of vari- Kolkata-based Apeejay Group, whose premises in Mumbai the company has
ous health conditions. been occupying for over a decade.
In accordance with the company, The insurer also claimed in court filings that IBC laws do not allow for insol-
the life cover is the industry’s first vency of financial services providers. The seeds of the commercial dispute
term plan specifically designed for between Aviva and Apeejay group were sown two years ago when the former
customers who find it difficult to get stopped making payments towards licence fees for Apeejay House, a property
access to life cover due to existing that belongs to Apeejay Trust, according to the court filings. However, the NCLT
health conditions. The insurer added noted that IBC exempts financial services providers from insolvency proceed-
that this product provides a route to ings, it rejected Aviva’s attempt to seek an exemption on these grounds.
customers with existing health con-
ditions to ensure their families have Aegon Life introduces 'iTerm' with innovative feature
the necessary financial resources to
continue with their lives in their Aegon Life Insurance has recently declared the launch of another innovative
absence. version of ‘iTerm’ Insurance Plan, along with
some unique benefits. The new Aegon Life
Term insurance plans provide pro- iTerm Insurance Plan provides regular monthly
tection against the loss of income by income after the age of 60 and offers financial
the family due to the demise of the protection till the age of 100 years. It provides
earning member. Individuals who the flexibility to choose from three plan options
have existing health conditions e.g. and multiple benefits to the customers.
diabetes, high blood pressure, high
cholesterol, obesity or even those Vineet Arora, MD & CEO of Aegon Life Insurance said, “We are proud to intro-
duce a new avatar of term plan in India. It is a plan that provides monthly in-
who have successfully recovered
come after the age of 60. And that’s not all, it also provides coverage up to
from cancer or any other surgeries,
the age of 100 years. Thus, with the Dual Protect option, one can not only
find it difficult to get life cover and
secure their family but also prepare for a regular monthly income after 60.
hence are unable to fulfill their re-
sponsibility to protect their families. For example, consider a 30-year-old male, non-smoker who chooses to buy a cover
till the age of 100 years for a base sum assured of 1 Crore. Under the Dual Protect
Puneet Nanda, ICICI Prudential Life
Insurance, deputy managing direc- option of the plan, a Lump-sum payout of Rs 5 lakhs will be paid after his 60th
tor, said, “Term plans are typically Birthday. Subsequently, he will also receive a monthly payout of Rs 10,000 i.e. 0.1
focused on providing life cover to per cent of the Base Sum Assured, Rs 1 crore for the following months.”
customers who are healthy. We “Many customers hesitate to buy term plan because it does not offer any re-
have large segments of the popula- turns on survival. We have plugged this need gap in the market and provide
tion who have been diagnosed with the customer with term protection and survival benefits. This is a big step
one or more lifestyle related condi- towards increasing the penetration of term insurance in India. This compre-
tions or other health ailments. Indi- hensive product offers other additional benefits such as quit smoking, auto-
viduals in these segments will find it increase of cover, life stage benefit and InstaCover. To encourage a healthy
difficult to get life cover leaving their lifestyle the ‘quit smoking benefit’ motivates customers to quit their smoking
families financially vulnerable. habits and get a discount on their future premiums thereafter.” he added.

14 The Insurance Times, December 2019