92.6% Service Requests Processed Online, Elevating Digital Advancement: Deepak Kinger

In an interview with Deepak Kinger, Chief Risk & Compliance Officer at ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company, we delve into the transformative impact of recent Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) regulations on the insurance landscape in India. Shedding light on the company's vision towards achieving 'Insurance for All by 2047,' Kinger elaborates on ICICI Prudential's recent initiatives, digital transformation and strategic measures aimed at enhancing customer experience, ensuring compliance and contributing to the industry's wider goal. Excerpts:

How have the recent IRDAI regulations influenced the insurance landscape in India?

IRDAI has been working towards enhancing policyholder protection and promoting ease of doing business by moving towards a largely principles-based regulatory regime. It has provided greater operational flexibility in some key areas along with placing higher onus on insurance companies.

The regulator has permitted insurers to introduce products that comply with the regulations after conducting internal risk assessments and ensuring appropriateness. This has effectively enhanced the go-to-market speed enabling insurers to offer products to address the evolving needs of customers. This in turn has also enabled us to offer guaranteed products at competitive interest rates to our customers.

Significantly, changes in the Expenses of Management regime have provided greater expense allowance for renewal premiums and lowered allowable expenses for new policy premiums, thereby encouraging long-term behaviour. This regulation now encompasses all expenses under overall limits, giving increased flexibility to insurers in managing expenses.

The IRDAI has also taken steps towards moving to a Risk-Based Capital (RBC) regime. This will serve as a pivotal mechanism to maintain capital commensurate with inherent risks and can go a long way in enabling companies to manage risks appropriately, such as suitable hedging of guarantees, asset liability management, etc. 

The vision of achieving ‘Insurance for all by 2047’ is ambitious. How does ICICI Prudential Life plan to contribute to this goal?

Life insurance serves the core needs of society, i.e. protection and savings, and it’s imperative for the industry to ensure that life insurance touchpoints are easily accessible to all. Studies estimate that only 12 per cent of the addressable population in India is covered by life insurance. The mortality protection gap in India is pegged at USD 16.5 trillion and the retirement fund gap is USD 3 trillion.

We have developed the ‘ICICI Pru Stack’, an industry-first initiative encompassing digital tools and analytical capabilities that ensure the right product to the right customer through the right channel and at the right price. The stack is enabling our distribution network with customer segmentation to unlock opportunities.

We are also focused on micro-insurance products through tie-ups with microfinance institutions to make products available to the far reaches of the country. The IRDAI, too, has rolled out some initiatives towards achieving its vision of ‘Insurance for All’. 

What initiatives have ICICI Prudential Life taken to enhance customer experience and ensure compliance?

The company has made significant investments in the development of its digital platform. In the first half of the fiscal year 2024, self-service transactions accounted for 92.6 per cent of all our service requests. With over 1.9 million downloads, our mobile app functions as a virtual branch for our customers and the convenience it provides has resulted in one out of three service transactions being carried out through it as of October 2023. 

Digital tools such as WhatsApp, bots, mobile apps, Chatbot LiGo and our company website enable the availability of services on demand to our customers. We recognise that in addition to purchasing life insurance, staying invested is crucial for continuity of benefits. Therefore, we have implemented advanced machine learning models, which ensure timely interventions for policy continuity.

With a retail claim settlement ratio of 97.9 per cent and 98.14 per cent in the first and second quarter of fiscal 2024, respectively, we have consistently held the top position among private life insurance companies. Claims settlement ratio is a crucial factor to consider when purchasing life insurance.