One hopes the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) acts swiftly to make corporate agents, including banks and their employees, liable and fully accountable for the insurance products they sell. For some inexplicable reason, they were left free to act as they pleased, so the need for accountability is extremely vital for customers, for whose benefit lRDAI is supposed to act. Any further delay on this will be inexcusable. Banks account for nearly 40-45 per cent of overall insurance sales in the country, and complaints about their mis-selling insurance products are rampant, far more than against regular insurance agents, who are held responsible.
It is a well-known fact that the relationship managers of banks are the main culprits as they have huge targets to meet, and they do so at any cost. They sell products to customers whether it suited them or not, and made false promises about the products that were later not fulfilled. It happened earlier with the selling of unit-linked insurance plans (ULIPs), where these were sold to senior citizens and farmers, who knew little or nothing about the vagaries of stock markets. It was only after Sebi, the market regulator, stepped in that IRDAI woke up. Now banks’ agents will be considered the intermediary representing the interest of customers, and each policy that he/she sells will be mapped with his/her details, so when complaints are made, IRDAI can pinpoint the person responsible for the transaction within the bank. The sooner this happens the better.
