IRDA May Set a Time-Frame for Insurers to Go Public

India’s insurance regulator IRDA may set a time-frame for insurers to go for public listing. This was also the stand taken by Reserve Bank of India, calling for promoters of new private banks to cut their share within ten years of getting a licence.

According to law, there is no specific time limit, but the insurance regulator could do so. IRDA has finalized IPO norms for helping life companies go public. The regulator has mapped out different disclosure guidelines for insurance companies in advance of listing since there were great numbers of policyholders who have stake in the company.

Chairman of IRDA, J. Hari Narayan said, “The changes were required to restore customer confidence. Restrictions on pension ULIPS were placed because life insurers were selling mutual fund schemes under the garb of ULIP pensions. A lot of ULIP products which were sold as pensions were not really pension products, they were more like mutual funds."

Online Term Insurance Cheaper By 10%

If you consider insurance, then term insurance is the real insurance. It is the pure insurance plan where you have to pay very less premium and you get covered for a big amount. The best way to buy term plans is online. Term insurance sold online are much cheaper as compared to normal channels such as through agents as insuring companies pass-on the saved cost on distribution and are laden with good features.

Online term plans are 8% to 10% cheaper than those sold through normal channels because there is no mediator between the seller and buyer. Most of the life insurance companies have started customizing term plans particularly planned to be sold online. 

These plans are more and more becoming popular as there is an increase in awareness about the requirement for life insurance. To increase online sales, insurers are giving more benefits to make their plans more appealing to customers.

British Riots to Cost Insuring Companies Dearly

Riots in London and other cities are probably going to cost insuring companies millions of pounds. London was hit by three straight nights of rioting, plundering and arson by anarchists who wrecked havoc in parts of the British capital. On Monday, violence spread out to other cities.

Insurance analysts are forecasting a repair bill amounting to tens of millions of pounds which has to be absorbed by insurance industry. The insuring companies have to pay as 125 year old British law makes the constabulary liable for property damage induced by rioting and plundering.

According to law, police force is responsible for holding law and order and in case they fail, they have to pay for the damage. This would put police finances under pressure. In 2001, Police force filed for the insurance claims after being forced to pay for fixes and repairs following riots in English towns of Bradford, Burnley and Oldham.

Sensex Plunges 316 Points After Global Onslaught

As a reaction to credit agency S&P's disputable decision to cut US's rating, the Sensex on Monday opened acutely lower and crashed nearly 550 points.

But the market in India demonstrated resiliency and proved worthy as one of the best investment addresses of the world and recovered spectacularly. After the early shocks, investors were back in the buying mood. The Sensex recovered about 500 points.

The recovery was also assisted by global financial powerhouse Goldman Sachs’s report that graded India from 'underweight' to 'marketweight'.

As compared to other markets around the world such Nikkei in Japan, Hang Seng in Hong Kong, FTSE in London and Dow Jones in the US, the Sensex and Nifty has fared much better.

Stock Market May See Knee-Jerk Reaction

US market fall can affect the Indian stock market, resulting in illogical, irrational and knee-jerk reactions, when the market will open on Monday, according to industry experts.

According to experts, if stability funds are not in place, then markets will have a knee-jerk reaction, and the downgrade will increase the negative view. L&T Finance Holdings and Tree House Education’s initial public offerings could be affected. 

As per the insiders, although the U.S. government has not altered its treasuries risk weights, the downgrade would push the yields of US treasuries up.

Experts are also criticizing US for raising its debt ceiling. The largest holder of US Treasuries is China with 1.16 trillion dollars and the next is Japan worth $ 912.4 billion. When markets open today, China could be the worst affected.