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The insurance regulator on Friday said an e-insurance account holder under the insurance repository system would not need to submit additional know your customer (KYC) details each time a policy is taken.
Presently, for every new insurance cover, a customer has to submit fresh KYC since there is no sharing of this information among insurers. Insurance repositories have been launched to hold policies in digital form.
The five licensed insurance repositories will enter into an agreement with the insurers who share the electronic data pertaining to the insurance policies with the repositories.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) on Friday said within seven days of submitting an application, a customer would get an e-insurance account.
The regulator clarified that a customer could open this account by submitting identity proof and address proof. Then the insurance repository does a KYC to open an e-insurance account and provides a welcome kit and helps with the details of how to use the account. The policyholders at the time of taking a policy or any time later can make a request for an e-insurance account with the insurance repositories and have the policies credited to the account.
Irda said customers could not just avail of portability facility to shift from one repository to the other, but also have the option to close the e-insurance account. Though the regulator has given insurers the option to tie up with multiple repositories, industry executives said it did not make business sense to sign agreements with all the service providers.
"Both new and existing life, annuities, health and general insurance policies can all be credited to this account. However, during the initial phase, the life insurance policies would be credited to this account. The general insurance and group insurance policies would be credited subsequently," said Irda.
Apart from a paperless policy, the insurance repositories would provide facility for online payment of premiums by the policyholders' and payouts (claims) by the Insurers and handle several other servicing needs.
