E-Insurance Account and its benefits

Insurance Repository services with a provision to open e-Insurance Accounts were launched exactly one year back. As of now this service is not a great success. The main reason being low awareness about e-insurance account. Also, the insurance industry did not market this service aggressively.

Last week, LIC (Life Insurance Corporation) tied up with 5 Insurance Repositories to enable its policy-holders to manage their insurance policies through a single online account.

In this post, let us understand – what is insurance repository? Benefits of maintaining e-Insurance Account?

What is Insurance Repository (IR)?

“Insurance Repository” means a company which has been granted a certificate of registration by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) for maintaining data of insurance policies in Electronic form on behalf of Insurers. The Insurance Repositories provide the ease of holding insurance policies issued in an electronic form.

The main objectives of IR are :

• To provide insurance policy-holders a facility to keep insurance policies in electronic form (dematerialized form)
• To provide policyholders a facility for for changing, modifying and revising the insurance policies online.
• To act as a single stop for policy servicing needs.
• To bring about the efficiency and transparency in the issuance and maintenance of insurance policies.

What is e-Insurance Account?

e-Insurance Account is an online repository system where you can electronically store all your insurance policies and maintain your insurance portfolio. It is a unique Account number (13 digit) and each account holder will be granted a unique Login ID and Password to access the electronic policies online. Like shares/mutual funds, you can access the insurance policies’ details electronically. The e-Insurance Account can be opened with the following 5 entities.

NSDL Database Management Limited

Central Insurance Repository Limited

SHCIL Projects Limited

Karvy Insurance Repository Limited

CAMS Repository Services Limited

Benefits of e-Insurance Account:

The following are the broad benefits of holding Insurance Policies in electronic form:

• The insurance policies are stored in electronic form. The risk of losing the policy bonds is avoided.
• The details of the insurance policies can be accessed from anywhere and anytime.
• As of now, Life insurance policies can be stored in electronic form. From December 2014, the insurance repositories will extend their services to store the health,motor, pension and all type of insurance policies.
• Service requests like ‘change of address’ can be submitted on your e-insurance account. The IR will update the same on all the policies which are linked to the e-insurance account. There is no need to visit all the insurers.
• One time KYC (Know Your Customer). No KYC repetition when you buy new policies.
• You can get the statement of account about the details of the policies from IR.
• There is no cost involved for the policy-holders to open an e-Insurance Account. It is free of cost.Insurance Repositories are paid by the insurers for their services.
• Premiums for all the policies can be paid online
• Policy benefits like moneyback installments /survival benefits/claims can be paid electronically through the registered bank a/c of the policyholder.
• An authorized representative can be appointed by the e-Insurance account holder to operate his/her account in case of unfortunate demise. Nominee and authorized representative can be the same person.
• the e-Insurance Account holder will have an option to shift from one Insurance Repository to the other
• You can opt out of this service anytime.
• When you are buying a new insurance policy, quote your e-Insurance account number in the proposal form. Request the insurance company to issue the policy in electronic form.
• You can also add the existing insurance policies to your e-Insurance account.
• A list of all policies that are credited will be available in the e-Insurance Account. For each policy, details like the status, commencement, maturity/expiry, nomination, assignment, endorsement, address, terms and conditions etc., would be available. In addition, the e-Insurance Account holder will be able to download a copy of the policy bond.

Documents required for opening an e-Insurance Account:

• e-Insurance Account form
• Photocopy of ID proof
• Photocopy of Address proof
• Cancelled cheque
• Passport size photograph

How to open e-insurance Account ?

• Through any of the IR branches / Approved Persons (an Approved Person is a Point of Sale (PoS) appointed by Insurance Repository and will be working on behalf of Insurance Repository to extend the IR services ) OR
• Through insurance companies.
• Complete the form and sign it. (SHCIL eIA Form – CIRL eIA Form – CAMS eIA Form – NSDL eIA Form)
• Attach the required KYC documents with the application form and submit it.( Carry the original documents for verification)
• eIA will be opened within 7 days of the receipt of the application form from the applicant.
• Once e-Insurance Account is created, you will receive a welcome kit. A pin mailer shall be sent separately.
• Using the login credentials and PIN, you can access and start using your e-Insurance Account.

The list of IR branches or Approved Persons’ details are available on the respective companies’ websites. You can also submit these documents with your insurance company.

It is expected that IRDA may soon make e-insurance Account mandatory. IRDA is also making it mandatory for all the insurance companies to have a tie up with all the Insurance Repositories. Kindly note that an individual can have only ONE e Insurance Account across Repositories

I hope this post is informative. Do share your experiences if you already have e-Insurance Account.