IRDAI has brought some cheer to insurance intermediaries by allowing point-of-sales persons (PoSPs) who are appointed by agents and brokers to sell health insurance policies.
So far, PoSPs were allowed to distribute only plain vanilla life products having standardized features and life products like term insurance and endowment plans.
With the new guidelines, PoSPs can now distribute non-participating health insurance products, which are easy to understand, with features, and pre-defined benefits stated upfront clearly. To start with, the insurance regulator has allowed these representatives to sell pure health insurance policies with sum assured of up to Rs.15 lakh for individuals and up to Rs.20 lakh for family floater policies. These policies will have minimum tenure of 5 years.
Last year, IRDAI had allowed insurance companies and insurance intermediaries, like agents, brokers and insurance marketing firms, to appoint sales representatives, i.e., PoSPs across the country. According to the guidelines, agents can appoint a matriculate as their sales representative to solicit insurance policies anywhere in India.
A few months ago, IRDAI relaxed norms for hiring PoSPs by doing away with the requirement of passing the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) exam to become POSPs. Now, PoSPs are required to complete online training and pass an examination.
