The insurance industry will now have access to a panel of 13 actuaries who will be assisting them in a range of services. The panel has been put together by IRDAI from a list of candidates who had applied for the post.
In all there will be nine for general and health insurance, and four for life insurance. This panel will function till March 31, 2020.
If insurers are not able to hire an 'appointed actuary' satisfying all the norms stipulated by the regulator, they can use services of any actuary from the 'Panel of Actuaries' for estimation of reserves, solvency margins and preparation of reports which are normally required at the end of every financial year.
Also, this panel can also assist the insurance company in the vetting of products to be filed by the insurer. In its panel of 13 actuaries, the insurance regulator has chosen experts from both India and abroad.
In a circular the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) said the panel of actuaries to be employed by insurance firms will have to satisfy certain criteria. The regulator also added that life and general insurance companies will have separate teams of actuaries. The tenure of each panel will be for a period of three years from April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2020.
On an average, a product approval takes 30-40 days depending on the type of product. Here, IRDAI looks into the product features and pricing before giving it a green light to allow it to be sold in the market.
There is also a dearth of actuaries in the market due to the level of difficulty of the actuaries qualification. To become a qualified actuary, an individual needs to be accredited by a body like the Institute of Actuaries of India.
This is done after a prospective candidate clears all 15 papers in actuarial science and gets a fellowship. India has less than 400 fully qualified actuaries.
IRDAI said that the panel actuary should not be an employee of any insurance company in India. However, he/she may work as consultant and/or consulting actuary for any insurance company.
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