After tasting some success in online sales of term plans, private insurer Max Life Insurance has now decided to sell ULIPs via the electronic mode.
“We are starting off with a couple of ULIP products, including a variant of a pension product,” V Viswanand, Senior Director and Chief Operations Officer, Max Life Insurance, told BusinessLine here.
This private life insurer expects the online market for unit-linked insurance plans to grow over time, although the current market is rather small. “We are going to sell a bunch of ULIPs online as customers who bought term plans online are asking for it,” Viswanand said.
On an average, Max Life Insurance issues 1,500-2,000 term policies a month through the online channel.
With the new generation going digital, it makes sense to grow the online sales channel and reap benefits over the next decade, he said, adding that all the controls of distance marketing will be followed.
Insurance regulator IRDA had in April 2011 issued distance marketing guidelines allowing, among other modes, sale of insurance products through the electronic mode.
Bancassurance plans Viswanand also said that Max Life Insurance was in talks with certain public sector banks to rope them in as bancassurance partners.
“If the open architecture proposed by IRDA were to come in some form or shape, then we would certainly see more public sector banks partnering with us for distributing our products,” he said.
Max Life had recently entered into a five-year bancassurance tie-up with Lakshmi Vilas Bank for distribution of the former’s life insurance products through the 400 branches of the private sector bank.