INSURANCE REGULATORY AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

Composition of Authority
As per the section 4 of IRDA Act' 1999, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA, which was constituted by an act of parliament) specify the composition of Authority The Authority is a ten member team consisting of

(a) (b) (c)

a Chairman; five whole-time members; four part-time members,

(all appointed by the Government of India)

MISSION
To protect the interest of and secure fair treatment to policyholders; To bring about speedy and orderly growth of the insurance industry (including annuity and superannuation payments), for the benefit of the common man, and to provide long term funds for accelerating growth of the economy; To set, promote, monitor and enforce high standards of integrity, financial soundness, fair dealing and competence of those it regulates; To ensure speedy settlement of genuine claims, to prevent insurance frauds and other malpractices and put in place effective grievance redressal machinery; To promote fairness, transparency and orderly conduct in financial markets dealing with insurance and build a reliable management information system to enforce high standards of financial soundness amongst market players; To take action where such standards are inadequate or ineffectively enforced; To bring about optimum amount of self-regulation in day-to-day working of the industry consistent with the requirements of prudential regulation.

IRDA (Registration of Companies) Regulations, 2000 under Regulation 7 (c) of Chapter II requires every Insurer to carry on all functions in respect of the Insurance business including management of investments within its own organization. In the context of the increasing volumes of the Unit linked life Insurance business and consequent market risk being assumed by the policyholders, it is appropriate to specify the minimum requirements for risk management systems within the Insurers, with particular reference to the investment activity (Please see Annexure III enclosed). The Investment Risk Management Systems & Processes specified, outline the minimum requirement to be in place. While it is likely that some of the Insurers have already put in place adequate systems and processes consistent with the proposals, there may be others who need to modify the systems to achieve compliance. Hence the effective date for adoption of the suggested measures by all insurers shall be not later than 31st Dec, 2008. All Insurance Companies, seeking registration henceforth shall comply with this guideline, as a part of the registration process. The Authority advises that a Chartered Accountants firm, who is not the Statutory or Internal or Concurrent Auditor of the concerned Insurer and having a minimum of three to four years audit experience of IT systems, risk management and process controls of Banks or Mutual Funds or Insurance Companies, shall certify that the Investment Risk Management Systems and Processes envisaged by these guidelines are in place and working effectively.

1. Life Insurance Corporation of India 2. MetLife India Life Insurance 3. ICICI Prudential 4. Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance 5. Max New York Life Insurance 6. Sahara Life Insurance 7. TATA AIG Life Insurance 8. HDFC Standard Life 9. Birla Sunlife 10. SBI Life Insurance Company Limited 11. Kotak Life Insurance 12. Aviva Life Insurance 13. Reliance Life Insurance Company Limited Formerly known as AMP Sanmar LIC 14. ING Vysya Life Insurance 15. Shriram Life Insurance 16. Bharti AXA Life Insurance Co Ltd 17. Future Generali Life Insurance Co Ltd 18. IDBI Fortis Life Insurance 19. AEGON Religare Life Insurance 1 20. DLF Pramerica Life Insurance 21. Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance 22. Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. 23. IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company

ROLE OF A OMBUDSMAN
An ombudsman is an official, usually appointed by the government or by parliament, who is charged with representing the interests of the public by investigating and addressing complaints reported by individual citizens. Usually appointed by the organization, but sometimes elected by the constituency, the ombudsman may, for example, investigate constituent complaints relating to the organization and attempt to resolve them, usually through recommendations (binding or not) or mediation. Ombudsmen sometimes identify organizational roadblocks running counter to constituent interests. Making a complaint to an ombudsman is usually free of charge.

IRDA mandated role for appointed actuary

The following regulations / circulars need a mention here: 1. IRDA (Appointed Actuary) Regulations, 2000 2. IRDA (Asset, Liabilities and solvency margins of insurer) Regulations, 2000 3. File and Use System IRDA (Appointed Actuary) regulation clearly mentions the power that the Appointed Actuary will enjoy. It also mentions the duties and obligations of the Appointed Actuary. According to this regulation. Appointed Actuary shall have access to all information or documents in possession of the insurer. He also has the right to attend the meeting of the management including Board meeting and can speak on and discuss matters concerning
solvency, actuarial advice, etc. Amongst his duties and obligations the following needs mention. a. rendering actuarial advice to the management of the insurer, in particular in the areas of product design and pricing, insurance contract wording, investments and reinsurance; b. ensuring the solvency of the insurer at all times

Addresses/Contact Information of offices of IRDA in India: Head Office : Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority 3rd Floor, Parisrama Bhavan, Basheer Bagh Hyderabad 500 004 Andhra Pradesh, India. Phone: (040) 23381100 Fax: (040) 6682 3334 Email:irda@irda.gov.in Website: http://www.irdaindia.org Delhi Office: Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Delhi Office Gate No. 3 Jeevan Tara Building, First Floor Sansad Marg, New Delhi-110001 India. Phone: (011) 2374 7648 Fax: (011) 2374 3397

THANKYOU
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