Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) is looking to strengthen and enhance the system for addressing grievances and protecting consumers, ensuring faster and more efficient settlement of claims and resolution of other policyholderconcerns, said Chairman Debasish Panda.

According to Chairman Debasish Panda, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) aims to enhance and enhance the system for addressing grievances and protecting customers, ensuring faster and more efficient settlement of claims and resolution of other policyholder concerns.

“Work is in the progress. There is a proposal from the government through a new legislation to build a more robust grievance redressal mechanism. We are examining it at our level. The work is on to address those issues. Going forward, we will have a much better platform for claim settlement, processing and grievance redressal,” Panda said on the sidelines of an event by the Insurance Brokers’ Association of India (IBAI).

IRDAI is working with the entire insurance ecosystem to find better solutions so that the claim and ombudsman journey for customers becomes frictionless, painless and seamless because there continue to be some “pain points”, he added.

Panda called on insurance companies to adopt emerging technologies to design products and underwrite risk, especially catering to newer and niche customer segments that continue to fall outside the purview of insurance coverage.

Shift to risk-based capital

Asked about shifting to a risk-based capital regime from a factor-based solvency regime, Panda said that work is underway, and the regulator has been looking at various parameters and risks such as liquidity, capital, governance, management, operational, geopolitical and climate change.

“A macroeconomic outlook must be adopted to ensure that insurance companies are healthy and safe. We are working with a global agency called the Toronto Centre for a 360-degree risk-based supervision framework,” Panda said, adding that work is also on to shift to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). “

Panda mentioned that the new framework would be adopted over 2-3 years.

Bima Sugam

IRDAI is also looking to fine-tune the Bima Sugam platform, owing to which the launch may be delayed beyond the expected deadline of August 2023, Panda indicated without specifying an exact date.

“We are working to make the platform and the product as glitch free as possible,” Panda said, adding that it is a very complex platform and product.

The regulator is also looking to launch a Health Claims Exchange in collaboration with the National Health Authority, in order to digitise and simplify the process of filing health insurance claims. The unified platform will offer quick and hassle-free processes but also reduce the cost per claim and allow for tracking of the claim status and automatic fund transfer of the claim amount.

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