Regulators hand out more tools to customers for decoding financial products

Sebi's new risk-o-meter and Irdai's proposed colour coding of health insurance plans will enable buyers to make more informed choices

Two regulators—the Securities Board of India (Sebi) and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai)—have announced initiatives that are expected to make it easier for customers to understand better the financial products they are purchasing. While Sebi’s new risk-o-meter will come into force from January 1, 2021, the document on colour coding of health insurance products issued by Irdai is an exposure draft seeking feedback from stakeholders.

The new risk-o-meter

How is it different? One change Sebi has made in the new risk-o-meter is that it has introduced one more risk category—‘very high’. The earlier risk-o-meter only went