Page 39 - Life Insurance Today March 2016

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, about
crore, according to its Se- 35-40 per cent of the total India's life insurance sector has
nior Executive Vice-Presi- business for the life insur- underperformed
dent and Chief Distribution ance industry generally compared to
Officer Suresh Agarwal. happens during these three its Asian
months, ''Agarwal said. A peers, says a
Last year, Kotak Life Insur- few group insurance prod- report by
ance earned Rs. 1,400 crore new busi-
ucts are expected to launch soon. McKinsey & Company. The report
says none of the private insurers are
Max Life Insurance launches new logo after untying with creating value of the type indicated
by the potential, all of them serving
Max India Ltd a minuscule segment, mainly to
meet narrow investment needs.
Private insurer Max Life Insurance has said a press release. Max Life Insurance
introduced its new logo in line with re- is a joint-venture between Max Finan- Even within this confined space,
cent separation of Max India Ltd. "The cial Services Ltd and Mitsui Sumitomo says the report, they demonstrate a
logo has been redesigned significant spread in performance,
to make it more contempo- Insurance Co. Ltd of Japan. which is driven largely by distribu-
rary while retaining the es- Max Financial Services tion strategy. "While most carriers
sence of its existing compo- owns and manages a 72.1 offer affluent consumers a similar
nents that project the focus per cent stake in Max Life product mix, including a high share
of the company on being committed to Insurance. Max Financial of investment-focused Unit-Linked
doing what is right while securing the Services Limited (MFS), a part of the Insurance Plans (Ulips), a few have
financial futures of our customers", USD 2 billion Max Group, is the hold- outperformed by investing in their
ing company for Max Life. distribution channels."

AIA gets approval from CCI to buy 23% more in Tata AIA It added the leaders tend to focus
Life on bancassurance, for example, and
leverage partnerships with banks to
The Competition Commission of India did not disclose the financial details. In expand scale and brand, to grow
has approved AIA group's 23 per cent a tweet, the Competition Commission market share and profit margins.
additional stake purchase in its life in- of India (CCI) said it "approves acqui-
surance joint venture with It says unlike other markets, growth
the Tata group. sition of additional 23 per in India's life insurance sector is cor-
cent shares in Tata AIA Life related more closely to equity mar-
AIA, which holds 26 per Insurance 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 ance solutions that cover protection,
in December last year, the company 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.
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Life Insurance Today March 2016