To
All Life Insurers
Re:Dispensing with
physical signature on proposal forms.
The Authority is in receipt
of feedback from various life insurers that the situation arising in the wake
of COVID-19 outbreak has impacted the traditional manner of canvassing life
insurance policies by agents and intermediaries. In particular, the filling-in
of the physical proposal forms, obtaining wet signatures on them and subsequent
movement of such physical papers, etc., are severely affected. In this
backdrop, the life insurers have represented to the Authority to allow the
option of authenticating the proposals for life insurance through electronic
means, in place of physical signature, for the sales made by insurance agents
and intermediaries, in addition to the methods presently allowed.
After examining the
suggestions received from life insurers, the Competent Authority issues the following
instructions under Regulation 18, read together with Regulation 8 (1), of IRDAI
(Protection of Policyholders’ Interests) Regulations, 2017:
1.
Life Insurers are allowed to obtain the
customer’s consent without requiring wet signature on the hard copy of the
proposal form, for the business solicited by insurance agents / intermediaries
subject to following:
a.
The completed proposal form shall be sent to
the prospect on his/ her registered e-mail ID or mobile number in the form of
an e-mail or a message with a link as the case may be.
b.
The prospect, if he / she wishes to consent
to the proposal, may do so by clicking the confirmation link or by validating
the OTP shared. The Insurer shall maintain verifiable, legally valid evidence
for the proposer’s consent received for the fully completed proposal form.
Further, the insurer shall not accept any payment of moneys towards proposal
deposit till the receipt of consent of the proposer.
c.
In all such cases, the agent / intermediary
shall confirm that only the approved sales material has been used during the
solicitation process. They shall also certify the authenticity of the e-mail
ID and/or mobile number of the prospect.
2.
The Insurers shall be responsible for:
a.
Providing to the insurance agents /
intermediaries approved digital sales material and ensuring that only such
material is used while soliciting the business;
b.
Authenticating the e-mail IDs / mobile
numbers of the prospects by conducting de-duplication of such data and other
such means;
c.
Ensuring the suitability of the product being
purchased;
d.
Carrying out pre-issuance verification calls
in respect of all such proposals.
3.
The above facilitation is allowed on an
experimental basis with immediate effect till 31st December, 2020,
and is limited to pure risk products, i.e., products that do not involve any
savings element. Grievances pertaining to sales logged in through the above
method shall be separately maintained by the Life Insurers and a monthly
statement shall be submitted to the Authority in Annexure I. Further, the
Authority reserves the right to revoke the above facilitation in respect of any
individual Insurer or for all Insurers any time.
V
Jayanth Kumar
Chief
General Manager (Life Insurance)
Encl:
Annexure I.