There are winds of change in the life insurance industry, which is grappling with falling sales.
P Nandagopal, President, Reliance Life, has resigned and is expected to join the life insurance joint venture between Bank of Baroda, Andhra Bank and Britain’s Legal & General. Here, BoB holds 44 per cent, Andhra Bank 30 per cent and Legal & General 26 per cent.
While declining to reveal where he was headed, Nandagopal said: “I have put in my papers and my resignation has been accepted. Right now, I do not have the opportunity to talk about my new employer.” He was earlier with Birla Sun Life and headed the bancassurance division.
Although Reliance Life has come to the fourth position, leaving behind HDFC Standard Life and Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, the insurer’s losses have increased, too. It has frozen expansion plans, after having got a licence to open 400 offices. It is, on the other hand, merging offices.
Reliance will start the hunt for a new CEO and will probably to look for an outsider, sources said. For the moment, Malay Ghosh, the deputy CEO, has been asked to discharge Nandagopal’s responsibilities.
Another life insurer, Birla Sun Life Insurance, been without a CEO since December 2008 when Vikram Mehmi moved out, is close to finalising a replacement. Sources said Pankaj Razdan, who is now Deputy CEO, Financial Services, of the Aditya Birla Group, is the frontrunner. Razdan was managing director of Prudential ICICI Asset Management Company from 1998 to 2004.
After Shikha Sharma left the largest private life insurer to join the third largest private sector bank, ICICI Prudential life insurance has found a new CEO in V Vaidyanathan. Similarly, Bhargav Dasgupta has replaced Sandeep Bakshi as CEO of ICICI Lombard General Insurance. Bakshi has moved to ICICI Bank as executive director.
Over the next few months, SBI Life also has to decide if U S Roy, due to retire in July, will get an extension or a new chief executive will be found.
