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Life insurance: Physical signatures not required to buy a new policy
06-Aug-2020
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IRDAI , the Insurance Regulator has allowed life insurers to obtain the customer’s consent without requiring wet signature on the hard copy of the proposal form. They can send the completed proposal form to the customer’s registered e-mail ID or mobile number in the form of an e-mail or a message with a link. Once the electronic form is received, the customer can give his or her consent by clicking the confirmation link or by validating the OTP shared.

Earlier this week on Tuesday, IRDA allowed life insurance companies to issue electronic or e-policies to the customers on their e-mail IDs during FY2020-21 . This was done to address difficulties faced by life insurers in printing and dispatch of policy documents.

IRDAI announced these new measures in response to feedback from several life insurance companies facing troubles due to the outbreak of Covid19.

IRDAI has asked the insurer to maintain verifiable, legally valid evidence for the proposer’s consent received for the fully completed proposal form. Further, the insurer cannot accept any payment towards proposal deposit till the receipt of consent of the proposer.

Also, the insurer should authenticate the e-mail IDs and mobile numbers of the customers by conducting de-duplication of such data.

The insurer will be responsible for ensuring the suitability of the plan purchased for the customer. Insurer will also be responsible to carry out pre-issuance verification calls in respect of all such proposals.

IRDAI has put out this e-verification and e-purchase of life insurance policy on an experimental basis with immediate effect till the end of this calendar year. The electronic facility is limited to pure risk products, i.e., products that do not involve any savings element.

Source : Live Mint back
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