Aegon Life Insurance, the only life insurance company to step up from an agency and go completely online, is now involved in building the distribution architecture. In an interaction with Moneycontrol, Vineet Arora, MD & CEO of Aegon Life Insurance said the business is at an investment phase.
Set up in 2008, Aegon Life is a joint venture between Aegon India Holdings and Bennett Coleman and Company.
While Arora refused to give a timeline for a breakeven, industry insiders said the company is likely to take another two years. Life insurance companies take between seven to nine years to achieve profitability.
The life insurance company has a large proportion of protection plans in its portfolio. On November 4, the insurer launched its term plan with protection and monthly income.
Arora said the new product is an extension of their flagship product iTerm. The new Aegon Life iTerm Insurance Plan provides regular monthly income after the age of 60 and offers financial protection until the age of 100 years. It provides the flexibility to choose from three plan options and multiple benefits to the customers.
“One unique product proposition is that there is a ‘quit smoking’ benefit. This means that if an individual quits smoking, the insurer will conduct a test after one year to confirm this and then offer a reduced premium. It is to promote a healthier lifestyle,” said Arora.
While the company is known for the term product, Arora added that they will focus on other products like unit-linked insurance and non-par protection among others.
On the distribution front, Arora said that since they have moved away from the agency channel about two and a half years ago, the focus is now on direct to customer and select brokers. While Aegon Life has tied up with Paytm and Mobikwik, Arora explained that a few such partnerships are on the anvil.
For the April to October 2019 period, Aegon Life collected new premium of Rs 52.11 crore, showing a year-on-year decrease of 15.4 percent. Net loss of the company stood at Rs 26.5 crore in the June quarter compared to Rs 31.3 crore in the year-ago period.
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