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Foundation to boost research, training -- ING Insurance, FICCI tie up

Our Bureau

KOLKATA, May 20

ING Insurance International B.V. has joined hands with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) to set up an insurance foundation to promote research, training and education in the various aspects of life insurance.

The Chief Advisor of ING Insurance, Mr N.N. Joshi, told newspersons on the sidelines of an interactive session on ``Life insurance'', organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI) here, that while FICCI would provide all the operational f acilities, his company would provide the financial support. A seed capital of Rs 10 lakh has already been provided by ING, and the Foundation is expected to begin work soon.

ING Insurance (through ING India) has already formed a joint venture with Vysya Bank, ING-Vysya Life, following an in-principle clearance from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) and was now awaiting the R-3 approval (operational l icence) from IRDA.

Mr Joshi, who initially declined to discuss the affairs of ING-Vysya Life as it was a separate joint venture, said the IRDA clearance was likely within a month.

Explaining the rationale behind setting up of the foundation, he said it was in keeping with ING's corporate philosophy of promoting R & D and also to play a role in the emerging industry situation, contributing to the growth of the Indian insurance sect or in the new environment.

The three focus areas would be consumer education in a generic manner (on insurance and its benefits), giving full expression to the historical perspective of the Indian insurance industry in the last 100 years through authentic publications and to activ ely promote and support research activity in spreading the knowledge of insurance among the populace.

Advocating drafting of simplified insurance contracts, which can be easily understood by the non-urban population, he said it was necessary to motivate the consumer today, considering the huge potential of rural insurance and the need for a cost-effectiv e delivery system.

Though the foundation would not be involved with hands-on training for insurance education, as such, efforts would be made through various activities (such as seminars and workshops) to provide value-addition to what was already being done in the life in surance sector today.

Asked on ING's other plans for the country, he said the phase of acquisitions and mergers was now over, and it was now time to consolidate.

Participating in the session, Mr Joshi observed that the greatest challenge for the new players in life insurance would be to change the ``known-face syndrome'', which has been the driving force behind servicing of customers with insurance. New players w ill perforce have to adopt a customer-centric approach. The public perception of an insurance agent was still not good. ``Contact selling'' now has to make way for ``competent selling'', which rests on high levels of professional and ethical standards.