IRDA has allowed e-Insurance accountholders to do away with KYC details after buying the first policy under Insurance Repository (IR) system. The insurance regulator has issued a handbook in which it has said that the e-Insurance accountholders (eIA holders) can send a request to their respective IR service providers in order to intimate them about any change in personal details like address or contact numbers etc.
Hitherto, the policyholders had to submit fresh KYC every time they bought insurance policies since the KYC details of investors were not shared among the insurers. However, the IR service will now enable insurance companies to access the KYC details of policyholders.
Through a handbook, IRDA has said that currently the policy holders can only merge their life insurance policies in their e-Insurance account (eIA). “Both new and existing life, annuities, health and general insurance policies can all be credited to this account. However, during the initial phase, the life insurance policies would be credited to this account. The general insurance and group insurance policies would be credited subsequently,” said IRDA.
The IR system will maintain electronic records of all insurance policies issued to policyholders. Policyholders can merge all policies like health, motor, life insurance etc. in a single account. Such account is called as eIA. The main objective behind creating the IR system is to provide policyholders a facility to buy and keep their insurance policies in electronic form.
IRDA has recently granted IR licenses to five entities - NSDL Database Management, Central Insurance Repository, SHCIL Projects, Karvy Insurance Repository and CAMS Repository Services to offer IR services in India.