The Hindu Business Line : Tata AIG Life hiring pension specialists

TATA AIG Life Insurance Co is in the process of appointing specialists in retirement products in select centres as part of a plan to promote its pensions business.

For the company, which offers a range of schemes directed towards both employers and employees, the exercise is aimed at building better relationships with customers.

The plan, said Mr Peter Crewe, V-P & Regional Pensions Director at AIG Global Pensions - Asia, is to nurture a trend that is taking firm roots in India. The pension specialists will be able to support a market that is likely to grow rapidly, especially because of the expected increase in the awareness of the products that are being made available.

Tata AIG, in a bid to tap the opportunities that are slated to come up in India, is currently seeking to develop a closer association with clients. It plans to utilise AIG's transnational connections, given the Triple-A rating it enjoys. MNCs and other corporates operating in India, Mr Crewe said, are comfortable with such a rating.

The company, according to Ms Vrinda Kini, Vice-President, Pensions, at Tata AIG, has lined up wide-ranging services, including those pertaining to administration & record keeping, actuarial valuation and investments.

The insurer, in fact, offers schemes that are flexible enough to meet the various retirement benefit needs of organisations. Tata AIG, Ms Kini said, has introduced various unit-linked options, including unit-linked comprehensive superannuation scheme.

For unit-linked gratuity scheme, the company has introduced three basic funds - liquid, income and equity. These are managed with the help of Franklin Templeton, the well-known fund management outfit. Tata AIG further provides traditional - that is, non unit-linked - comprehensive gratuity product.