India Market Life Insurance Update

Transcription

1 India Market Life Insurance Update India Issue 51 July 2013 Introduction We are pleased to release our 51 st quarterly newsletter on the life insurance industry in India, covering developments during the period March to May The life insurance industry recorded a significant decline of over 15% in weigh ted new business premium collections (measured as regular premiums plus 10% of single premiums) in FY (April 2012 to March 2013) compared to FY (April 2011 to March 2012), largely owing to the sharp fall of 21% recorded by the state-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). For the LIC, the decline in weighted new business premium collections was primarily due to group business, which contracted by 60 per cent and accounted for around 87% of the total decline in weighted new business sales in FY On the other hand, private p layers registered a moderate decline of approximately 4% in weighted new business premiums during the said period amidst the generally slow economic conditions and regulatory uncertainties. Group insurance business was the lone contributor to the decline in weighted new business premium collections of private insurers while individua l business showed a growth of approximately 2%. On account of the steep decline witnessed by the LIC, private insurers succeeded in increasing their market share of weighted new business premiums to approximately 40% in FY , up from 35% in FY On the mergers and acquisitions front, it is reported that among others, existing life insuranc e companies including HDFC Life, Birla Sun Life, ICICI Prudential Life and Shriram Life may be looking to acquire HSBC s 26% stake in Canara HSBC OBC Life. Mean while, press reports indicate that Indian Bank has revived its plans to enter into the life insurance market and plans to acquire 20% to 25% stake in an existing life insurer. In this issue Industry statistics April 2012 to March 2013 April 2013 Market update Mergers and acquisitions Company news Financial results Regulatory update Union Budge t 2013 Committee report on the IRDA (Insurance Brokers) regulations IRDA circular on product planners Guidelines on foreign offices of insurers IRDA circular on alternative investments Distribution Others Distribution Products Contact details The Union Budget presented in March 2013 proposed some changes to boost insurance penetration in the country, the key proposal being to allow banks to act as insurance brokers, which is currently under regulatory review. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) released circulars on product planners and alternative investments and issued guidelines on opening of foreign offices by insurers, among others. Mean while, following the finalisation of linked and non-liked product regulations by the IRDA earlier this year, life insurers are working towards withdrawing or re-filing several existing products. We provide an overview on these and other market developments in this edition of the newsletter. We hope you continue to find the newsletter interesting and informative and look forward to receiving your feedback. Towers Watson - Risk Consulting, India Copyr ight 2013 Tow ers Watson. All rights r es erved. tow ersw atson.com 1

2 Industry statistics April 2012 to March 2013 As per statistics released by the IRDA, the life insurance industry collected weighted new business premiums of INR billion in FY , representing a decline of 15.2% over the previous financial year. The state-owned life insurer LIC recorded a year-on-year decline of 21.3% in its weighted new business premium collections in FY , resulting in its market share falling by 4.7% to 60.4%in FY LIC s individual business registered a marginal decline of 4.1% while its group business recorded a sharp fall of 59.6%. Mean while, private life insurers saw a smaller year-on-year contraction of 3.8% in weighted new business premium collections in FY However, it is worth noting that the overall growth rate was pulled down by group business which contracted by 20%. Weighted individual business premium collections, on the other hand, increased by 1.9%. ICICI Prudential Life, although recording a marginal contraction in weighted new business premiums, continued to remain the market leader amongst private life insurers in FY with its marke t share increasing by 1% to 7.4%. Of the remaining top five private insurers in terms of weighted new business premium collections HDFC Life, SBI Life and Bajaj Allianz Life witnessed positive year-on-year growth while Birla Sun Life witnessed a small contraction in weighted new business premium collections in FY The following graph provides a comparative picture of weigh ted new business premium collections of the top 10 and other private life insurers in FY and FY ICICI Prudential Life Source: IRDA Weighted new business premium collections in FY and FY (in Rs million) HDFC Life SBI Life Bajaj Allianz Life Birla Sun Life Max Life Reliance Life Kotak Life Aviva Life PNB MetLife Others April ,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 35,000 40,000 45,000 50,000 FY FY Initial FY trends are more enc ouraging for private players. According to latest business figures released by the IRDA, private life insurers witnessed a marginal year-on-year growth of 1.1% in weighted new business premium in the first month of the ne w fiscal year FY , when compared to April On an aggregate level however, the life insurance industry still reported a 17.6% contraction in weighted new business premium, pulled down by the 25% decline in overall weighted new business premium of LIC. Market update Potential new entrants Public sector Indian Bank has reportedly revived its plans to enter the life insurance market and may acquire 20% to 25% stake in an existing life insurer. The bank intends to partner with an insurer having a substantial presence in areas where the bank has a strong presence to leverage distributional synergies. Mergers and acquisitions Reports suggest that first round bids for the proposed sale of HSBC s 26% stake in Canara HSBC OBC Life have been made by several insurers including HDFC Life, Birla Sun Life, ICICI Prudential Life and Shriram Life. Canada-based Manu life which has been looking to enter the Indian life insurance market for several months is also reported to be one of the interested buyers. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the proposed sale of 22.5% stake in the joint venture Future Generali Life by Future Group to Industrial Investment Trust Limited (IITL). Reportedly, IITL will also be given an option to buy an additional 1.5% stake within the next year as a part of the agreement. Company news HDFC Life announced its plan to invest INR1.2 billion in a technology based business transformation initiative aimed at driving growth and improving customer acquisition and retention over the next four years. IndiaFirst Life plans to focus on its retail distribution channel and double its contribution to the overall business of the company from 10% currently. India First Life was awarded the Celent Model Insurer Asia Award 2013, based on its technology initiatives and optimisation of business economics in the insurance sector, for the third consecutive time. The award recognises the establishment of an interactive and intuitive self-service digital channel to support customer services. The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has selected seven annuity service providers (ASPs) for subscribers exiting from its New Pension System (NPS) and seeking withdrawal of accumulated pension. The LIC has been selected as the default service provider and the remaining six providers are SBI life, ICICI Prudential Life, Bajaj Allianz Life, Star Union Dai-ichi L ife and Reliance Life. Under the provisions of the NPS, minimum 40% of the corpus has to be utilised for purchasing an annuity from one of the empanelled ASPs. Copyr ight 2013 Tow ers Watson. All rights r es erved. tow ersw atson.com 2

3 As per data compiled by Financial Chronicle on IC ICI Prudential Life, SBI Life, HDFC Life, Max Life, Ba ja j Allianz Life and Reliance Life, the six private life insurers saw a significant increase in surrender payments made in the first nine months of FY , largely due to shif ting customer needs and mis-selling. The LIC witnessed a year-on-year increase of 40% in surrender pay-outs during the said period. Financial results The financial resu lts for some life insurers for FY (as reported in the media) are summarised below: Bajaj Allianz Life reported a decline of 9.5% in profits to INR10.38 billion in FY from INR11.51 billion in FY Canara HSBC OBC Life reported maiden profits of INR235 million in FY ; its fifth year of operations. The solvency ratio of the insurer stood at 384%. HDFC Life reported a growth of 66.4% in net profits to INR4.51 billion in FY from INR2.71 billion in FY ICICI Prudential Life reported net profits of INR14.96 billion in FY , a year-on-year increase of 8%. Ma x Life reported a gro wth of 17% in profits before tax to INR8.60 billion in FY from INR7.33 billion in FY The company plans to pay out dividend income of nearly INR3 billion in the 12-mon th period starting 1 July The solvency ratio of the company stood at 521% at the end of FY SBI Life recorded a profit of INR6.22 billion in FY , a 12% increase from its profit of INR5.56 billion in the previous financial year. Regulatory update Some of the recent insurance regulatory updates and fiscal policy changes of the government impacting the Indian life insurance market are described in this section. Union Budget The Finance minister introduc ed some key proposals aimed at increasing overall insurance penetration in his budget speech presented in March Insurers have been allowed to open branches in Tier II and Tier III cities without prior IRDA approval. All towns with a population greater than 10,000 people will have at least one LIC office and one public sector general insurance company office. The budget proposed that banks be allowed to act as insurance brokers to tie-up and distribute insurance products of all insurers. Under the current bancassurance guidelines, banks can tie-up with one life and one general insurer under a corporate agency model. The budget also proposed to withdraw the tax benefit on proceeds arising out of keyman insurance policies in the hands of the employees, taken on their behalf by their employers. Committee report on the IRDA (Insurance Brokers) regulations A committee constituted by the IRDA to review the IRDA (Insurance Brokers) Regulations, 2002 has presented its report proposing certain amendments. Key amendments proposed in the report are: Ceiling on business with one client (excluding a government body or a public sector company) has been raised to 50% and placement of business with one insurer has been set at 25% of the broker s total business. The period of re-application by a broker has been fixed at one year from the date of license cancellation. It has also been proposed to lower the annual fees to 0.4% from 0.5% of the previous year s revenue and the minimum fee of direct insurance broker to INR15,000 from INR25,000. The Committee s report also considers the proposal to allow banks to act as brokers. Certain conditions have been suggested for the same which include: Each corporate bank should have only one broking license. The broking arm should be a separate unit managed by personnel trained by institutes imparting insurance related education. There should be a Board-approved policy to address the ma tters concerning conflicts of interest, and the same should be furnished to the regulator. If the IRDA allows sub-broking, small banks such as cooperative and regional rural banks can act as subbrokers. In case banks are allowed to become brokers, then they will be exempted from having a separate initial capital. The banks will have to keep a minimum deposit with IRDA s lien at INR5 million for direct broker, INR20 million for reinsurance broker and INR25 million for composite broker. IRDA circular on product planners The IRDA has issued a circular directing all life insurers to submit a product planner specifying their plans for new product launches 45 days before the beginning of each financial year. The insurers were given time till end of April to do the same for FY The product p lanner is intended to accelerate the product appro va l proc ess. Also, if a company plans to file more than five products in a financial year, it will have to submit the supporting market research and product-wise persistency reports for 13, 25 and Copyr ight 2013 Tow ers Watson. All rights r es erved. tow ersw atson.com 3

4 37 months as on 30 April of the previous year. Life insurers have expressed concerns regarding the adequacy of this limit and have suggested that the limit be set product segment-wise instead. Insurers have also pointed out that due to change in product regulations, they would need to re-file a number of products in FY Guidelines on foreign offices of insurers The IRDA has issued guidelines for insurers intending to set up subsidiaries or branches outside India. Ma jor provisions include: The insurer must have reported profits for three years out of the last five years of operation, and should have clean regulatory compliance record. Minimu m net worth for a do mes tic life insurer to estab lish a foreign office is INR5 billion. The nature of business conducted in the foreign office should be the same as that for which license to operate has been obtained in India. Setting up of the foreign office, and its proposed investment policy and reinsurance arrangements should be approved by a Board of Directors resolution. Initial capital requirements and further expansion should be met out of the shareholders funds beyond the required solvency margin. The insurer must also ensure due compliance with the IRDA s KYC and anti-money laundering guidelines, along with the host country s solvency requirements. IRDA circular on alternate investments The IRDA has released a circular permitting insurers to invest in Category I Alternative Investment Funds under the heading Other Investments. These investments are restricted to infrastructure bonds and Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Funds. Also, insurers have to ensure that these funds do not invest in securities of companies incorporated outside India. These investments, along with investments in venture funds will be subjec ted to the exposure limit of 3% of respective fund or 10% of Alternative Investment Fund s size, whichever is lo wer. Distribution The IRDA has allowed a one-time renewal of archived individual agency licences that would allow lapsed licences and licenses with incomplete information to be revived, hence activating a number of dormant licenses. Such agents will have to undergo renewal training and all other regulations pertaining to the renewal of licenses will also be applicable. Others The Finance Minister has asked the IRDA as well as insurers to submit a status report indic ating performance as we ll as any new measures taken by them by the first of every month. This is in an effort to closely monitor the growth of the insuranc e sector and facilitate greater penetration of the sector while minimising roadblocks. The government is reviewing the definition of the term insurance to make it more inclusive of other related activities such as insurance broking and intermediaries. Broadening the definition would allow firms related to insurance to get Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) up to 26% under the automatic route, which does not require them to seek prior clearance from the Foreign Investment and Promotion Board. The IRDA has given permission to insurers to participate in the proposed debt segment of the stock exchange provided that the Security and Exchanges Board of India (SEBI) amends the Security Contracts Regulation Rules (SCRR). SEBI will need to make appropriate changes in its rules so that a ll insurers can become members in the debt segment. The IRDA, SEBI, RBI and PFRDA have signed a Me morandum of Understanding (MoU) for consolidated regulation and monitoring of financial conglomerates which allows each regulated entity to be supervised as part of the group, ensuring that the risk from various parts of the group is accounted for. The IRDA has been admitted as a signatory to the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) Mu ltilateral MoU, which aims to bolster international regulatory cooperation, improve information exchange and endorse financial stability in cross-border insurance operations. The pact sets up minimum supervisory norms for the signatories. Other signatories include regulatory bodies of Australia, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom. The IRDA has issued guidelines to insurers for maintaining records identifying customers and beneficial owners, account files and business correspondence for a period of at least five years from the date of business termination. It has also asked insurers and agents to maintain all transaction records for a minimu m period of five years from the date of transaction. These guidelines are in line with the amendments to the Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Act Distribution According to statistics released by the Life Insurance Council, the total number of branches of life insurers decreased from 11,100 to 10,300, and direct employees headcount has fallen from 247,550 to 245,993 as at December 2012 as compared to December Cost burden of branch expansions and closing of non-performing branches have been cited as the main reasons. The number of insurance agents has also reduced from lakhs to lakhs during the same period. Howe ver, the fall in the number of agents and employees in 2012 is lower than that of 2011 when it had fallen by 3.3 lakhs. In an effort to increase candidates qualifying as insurance agents, the regulator has lowered the minimum passing benchmark for qualifying in the pre-recruitment agent s examination from 50% to 35%. Bajaj Allianz Life has tied up with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Brokers Forum, a union of the BSE Copyr ight 2013 Tow ers Watson. All rights r es erved. tow ersw atson.com 4

5 members, by signing a MoU. Through this allianc e, the registered members of the Forum will be allowed to sell the insurer s products using their distribution networks across the country. Adequate training will be provided to these members to help them become lic ensed agents. Edelweiss Tokio Life has opened its first branch in Kochi, which marks the commencement of its operations in Kerala. This is the 5 th branch of the insurer in southern India and 44 th in the country. The company targets to create a customer base of 100,000 people in Kerala by HDFC Life has launched an initiative called Swabhimaan Careers to provide employment opportunities to the family members of deceased policyholders and strengthen custo mer relationships. IndiaFirst Life has launched personalised Picture Policy Packs for its customers, giving them an option to choose their Happy Family Picture to be printed on their policy documents, as a part of their strategy to make the products more personalised. The LIC is expected to open 256 offices in towns with a population of 10,000 or more by the end of March 2014, after the Finance Minister announced in his budget speech that there will be one sta te-run life and non-life insurance branch in such towns. Products Some of the recent product launches in the Indian life insurance market are described below. AEGON Re ligare Life has launched two new traditional products - Assured Returns Insurance Plan and Flexi Money Back Plus Insurance Plan. Assured Returns Insurance Plan offers guaranteed payouts for a period equal to and after the expiry of the premium payment term. The policyholder can choose a premium payment period of seven years or 10 years, entailing guaranteed payouts of 150% and 175% of the annual premium respectively for an equal number of years. It offers premium waiver in case of policyholder s death within the premium payment term, with no changes to the policy benefits to be paid to the nominee. There is also a surrender benefit on payment of at least two annual premiums. Key features of the Flexi Money Back Insurance Plan include regular survival benefits equal to a certain percentage of the sum assured during the policy term, 40% of the sum assured as maturity benefit; and death benefit comprising the capital sum assured along with the accrued bonus. It also offers surrender benefit and a choice of two riders. Aviva L ife has launched Wealth Builder Plan ; a traditional endowment assurance plan which provides guaranteed maturity benefit of two times the total premium paid and does not involve a medical examination at the time of policy issuance. The product is available in regular and single premium variants, with minimum regular and single premium being INR50,000 and INR150,000, respectively. The death benefit is higher of sum assured or total premiums paid till date accumulated at 6% per annum compounded. Birla Sun Life has introduced Vision Regular Returns Plan, a traditional participating endowment plan offering annual survival benefits beginning from the fifth policy year and maturity benefit equal to accrued bonuses less the nonguaranteed survival benefits paid. There is a death benefit of sum assured plus the accrued bonuses to the nominee in case the insured dies within the policy term. It also provides a choice of five riders - premium waiver, hospital care, surgical care, accidental death and disability; and critical illness. DLF Pramerica has launched Sahaj Suraksha whic h is a traditional endowment plan providing cover till the insured attains the age of 75 years, irrespective of the entry age. It offers death and maturity benefits equal to the sum assured plus the accrued bonuses till date, and a surrender benefit if premium is paid for at least three years. It also allows the policyholder to avail a loan against the policy. Edelweiss Tokio Life has launched a non-participating product, Single Pay Endowment Plan with five single premium bands starting with INR40,000. Death benefit is ten times the single premium paid and there is a guaranteed ma turity benefit varying on the basis of age, gender and premium band. The policyholder can also avail a loan against the policy up to an amount of 90% of the surrender value. The plan offers four additional riders. HDFC Life has introduced a health insurance product, HDFC Life Health Assure Plan which is available in two variants- Gold and Silver Plan. Key offerings of the product are inpatient hospitalisation cover, pre and post hospitalisation cover, family cover on a floater basis, day care, surgical care and critical illness cover. Gold Plan also provides additional hospital cash, we llness and ma ternity benefits (under fa mily floater option). The product offers guaranteed fixed premium for a three year period, guaranteed lifetime renewability and a mu ltiplier benefit which increases the annual limit by 50% and 100% after a claim-free single year and two consecutive years respectively. Reliance Life has launched Reliance Life Care for You Advantage Plan for family health protection, providing cover for hospitalisation, pre and post hospitalisation expenses, medical e xpenses, ambulance charges and day care treatment. Key features of the plan include fixed premium amount for a three year period irrespective of the claim experience, a no claim bonus of 5% of the basic sum assured for every claim free year whic h is added to the sum assured, capped to a maximum of 30%; guaranteed renewability, renewal discount and cashless facility, among others. SBI Life has launched an online term assurance plan, eshield, available in two variants - level cover and increasing cover. Under increasing cover, the sum assured increases by a simple rate of interest of 10% after the end of the fifth policy term. It has a minimum premium of INR3,500 and the premium payment term varies from 5 years or 10 years for level and increasing cover variants respectively, to a maximum of 30 years. An accidental death benefit rider can be attached to any of the variants. Copyr ight 2013 Tow ers Watson. All rights r es erved. tow ersw atson.com 5

6 Contact details Towers Watson's Risk Cons ulting team covers the length and bread th of India with associates based in Mumbai and Gurgaon. Mark Saunders Managing Director, Hong Kong and Risk Consu lting Practice Leader, Asia Pacific Vivek Jalan Director, Risk Consulting, India Dilip Chakraborty Senior Adviser, Towers Watson, India Rajesh Sabhlok Senior Consultant, Risk Consulting, India s: vivek.ja watson.com Mumba i 511/512, Solitaire Corporate Park Andheri-Kurla Road, Andheri East Mumbai Tel: 91 (22) Fax: 91 (22) Gurgaon 404B, 4th Floor, Centrum Plaza DLF Golf Course Road, Sector-53 Gurgaon Tel: 91 (124) Fax: 91 (124) The Indian Market Life Insurance Update has been prepared by Towers Watson for general information purposes only and does not constitu te professiona l advic e. The information, opinions and projec tions c ontained in this News letter are derived fro m various sources and have not been independently verified by Towers Watson. If you require professional advice or require any further information please contact any of the above named individuals. ABOUT TOWERS WATSON Towers Watson is a leading g loba l professional servic es c ompany that helps organisations improve performance through effec tive people, risk, and financial management. With 14,000 associates around the world, we offer solutions in the areas of benefits, talent management, rewards, and risk and capital manage ment. Towers Watson covers the length and breadth of India and opera tes from six offices in four cities. For more information, please visit towerswatson.com Copyr ight 2013 Tow ers Watson. All rights r es erved. tow ersw atson.com 6