Report of Committee on Regulatory
Sandbox in insurance sector in India
Ref.
No.: IRDA/ INT/ CIR/ RSB/ 032/ 02/ 2019 Date: 5th
February, 2019
The
Authority, vide order No. IRDA/F&A/ORD/MISC/151/09/2018 dated 18th
September, 2018, had constituted a committee on Regulatory Sandbox in insurance
space in India under the Chairmanship of Mr. Randip Singh Jagpal, CGM, IRDAI.
A
“Regulatory Sandbox Approach” can be used to carve out a safe and conducive
space to experiment with Fin-Tech solutions, and where the consequences of
failure can be contained. The objective of Regulatory Sandbox is to
facilitate innovations in the insurance sector, make the insurance products
more affordable and relevant for the insured and to give a fillip to insurance
penetration.
In
this context, the Committee had invited suggestions/comments, on the said
subject, from all Insurance, Reinsurance companies and Foreign Reinsurance
Branches in India.
On
the basis of the comments, inputs and advices received, the Committee has
drafted the final report on the Regulatory Sandbox.
Following
are the key recommendations of the Committee:
1)
The
purpose of the Regulatory Sandbox is to foster growth and increase the pace of
the most innovative companies, in a way that provides Insurtech in particular
and the Fintech sector as a whole with flexibility in dealing with regulatory
requirements and at the same time focussing on policyholder protection.
2)
The
Authority should create a core Sandbox Committee having dedicated personnel to
monitor and supervise the digital innovation activities, and provide support
and advisory to the applicants as envisaged in the draft guidelines. The
Committee would facilitate roll out of the experiments and seek to provide the
ecosystem required for the experimentation.
3)
The
Regulatory Sandbox would have defined entry and eligibility criteria, boundary
conditions, process flow, timelines and success factors / exit parameters for
the applicants, along with appropriate controls for protection and risk
management.
4)
At
the same time, the process and criteria would be flexible to provide a
conducive environment for encouraging and enabling a wide variety of
experimentation, including provisions for no enforcement action orders, waivers
and relaxed reporting requirements.
5)
The
committee proposes a cohort basis approach for receiving applications. The
applicants would include insurers or insurance intermediaries or any other
entity other than an individual having a minimum net-worth of Rs 25 lakhs for
last 3 years.
6)
The
applicant can apply in any one of more of the 5 categories namely insurance
solicitation or distribution, insurance products, underwriting, policy &
claims servicing and any other. The applicant could apply singly or jointly in one
or more than one category, provided that if the category involves insurance
product or underwriting, then the applicant necessarily has to partner with an
insurer.
7)
The
permission shall be granted for a period of 6 months which can be extended for
another 6 months. In no case can the proposal be allowed to go beyond 12
months. However, if the proposal covers 5,000 persons or completes Rs. 50 lakhs
of premium or any other parameter which the Authority specifies, the proposal
will deem to have been completed.
8)
Strict
requirements around confidentiality of policyholder’s data have been proposed.
The
report is attached for comments, which may be sent in the enclosed format, on
or before 26th February, 2019 to undersigned at randip@irda.gov.in with a
copy to Mr. R K Sharma @ rksharma@irda.gov.in
Randip
Singh Jagpal
CGM
(Int)