Database on insurance agents soon

Insurance agents misselling and remaining unnoticed will soon become a thing of the past as the regulator plans to keep a check on their background.

On the lines of credit bureau, the Insurance Information Bureau (IIB) of India has decided to prepare a central database of the insurance intermediaries to help individual companies to have some background check before engaging them.

“The industry has been asking for a central record of the third parties for life and non-life insurance businesses.We are looking at the aspect and would seek the regulator’s nod for such a database,” IIB CEO Kunnel Prem said here on the sidelines of an Assocham organised insurance conclave.

“This data will help the industry while listing third parties. In future, there could be a caution list from our end,” he said.

Right now, the project is in a formative stage. Intermediaries include individual and corporate agents, TPA in health insurance and investigators in claims. There are complaints against many third party entities but they get engaged with other companies once restricted or blacklisted.