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The guidelines also state that the Insurance Repository may appoint corporate agents and insurance brokers licensed under IRDA’s (Corporate Agents) Regulations, 2002 and IRDA’s (Insurance Brokers) Regulations, 2002 respectively as their Approved Person. However to avoid a possible conflict of interest, the insurance repository shall restrict the services of corporate agents and insurance brokers so appointed as approved persons to only those policies that are procured by them.
In light of the above requirements, the Authority lays down the following procedures for approval of approved persons by the Authority:
S.No. Proposed procedure
1 The insurance repository desirous of appointing an approved person shall make an application to the Authority in form “A”. The objective is to ensure uniformity across the industry.
2 The application for an approved person shall be sponsored by an insurance repository. No approved person shall directly apply to IRDA for this purpose.
3 No individual or a sole proprietorship firm can act as an approved person.
4 A corporate agent or an insurance broker licensed by the Authority can become an approved person of more than one insurance repository, provided his license is valid. It is to be ensured that the approval is in its capacity as a Corporate Agent / Insurance Repository.
5 As an approved person a corporate agent or an insurance broker can service only those policies that are procured by them. It is the responsibility of the Approved Person to ensure compliance to this requirement.
6 An Insurer shall not be an approved person. However, an Insurer shall render all policy services, including relating to those applicable to EIA, but confined to only in respect of those policies that are sold and serviced by it.
Explanation: Any services that an insurer renders to its policyholders need not be considered as a service discharged in any other capacity, as such no specific approval is required to the Insurer as he is always obligatory to discharge any of the policy services to its policyholders. For this purpose, an Insurer may agree with insurance Repository for rendering any services that will form part of the agreement between insurers and insurance repository.
7 A company registered under the Companies Act, 1956 and having a paid-up capital of more than 5 lakhs is eligible to be appointed as an approved person of an insurance repository. Further the company shall not be formed only for the purpose of carrying out the functions as an approved person for an insurance repository.
8 The insurance repository shall indicate, at the time of application of the approved person, the fee payable to him in any form.
9 The ability to act as an Approved Person ceases to a Corporate Agent or an Insurance Broker, the moment his license is cancelled or suspended.
10 In case the license of an insurance broker or a corporate agent is suspended or cancelled.
11 An insurer shall decide the services to be outsourced to an insurance repository as well the works to be delegated in turn to the Approved Person by the Insurance Repository. Guidelines do not envisage direct understanding between the Insurers and A Ps. It shall not be mandatory for an insurance repository to utilize the services of the approved person.
12 The duties and responsibilities of the approved persons shall be specified by the insurance repository. An illustrative list of the duties and responsibilities are given in Annexure “2”.
13 The approved person shall be governed by the provisions of the Insurance Act, 1938, IRDA Act, 1999 and guidelines made there under from time to time. The insurance repositories and Insurers shall notify the Authority any violations or deviations committed by the approved persons during the course of their operations that comes to its notice.
14 The Insurance repository shall file with the Authority the details of approved person on its rolls, action taken if any, once in half year.
15 The Authority reserves the right to issues directions to the insurance repository for terminating the services any approved person which shall be binding on the Insurance repository.
16 The Authority may call for any further particulars before according the approval to the approved person. Where necessary the Authority will also have powers to inspect or cause an inspection into the premises of the applicant.
Annexure “1”
Approved Persons of Insurance Repositories
  1. In order to discharge the services and obligations, an insurance repository may appoint any number of approved persons to represent it before policyholders, subject to prior permission of IRDA. In its application for permission to appoint approved persons, the insurance repository shall specifically spell out the duties and obligations of these approved persons.
  2. The insurance repository shall remain liable to the omissions and commissions of its approved persons while attending to the request of the policyholders.
  3. An approved person shall not be allowed to access the e Insurance Accounts.
  4. The insurance repository may also appoint corporate agents and insurance brokers licensed under the IRDA’s (Corporate Agents) Regulations, 2002 and IRDA’s (Insurance Brokers) Regulations, 2002 respectively as their approved persons.
  5. To avoid a possible conflict of interest, the insurance repository shall restrict the services of corporate agents and insurance brokers so appointed as approved persons to only those policies that are procured by them.
Annexure “2”
Illustrative Duties and responsibilities of the Approved Person of an insurance repository
  1. While the insurance repository shall specify the duties and responsibilities of the approved persons, an insurer can decide the services to be outsourced to an insurance repository as well the works to be delegated to or performed by an approved person of the insurance repository.
  2. It shall not be mandatory for an insurance repository to utilize the services of the approved person.
  3. The insurance repository shall remain liable to the omissions and commissions of its approved persons while attending to the request of the policyholders.
  4. An approved person shall not be allowed to access the e Insurance Accounts.
  5. An illustrative list of duties and responsibilities of the approved person are given below:
A) Duties and responsibilities of Approved Person
  1. The Approved Person shall accept the following documents for opening e-Insurance account either along with new policy applications or standalone:
  1. Individual Policy application forms including Life, Health and Pension policies including those issued to groups, issued by any Insurance Company licensed by IRDA.
  2. All General Insurance Policies held by individuals including Group Policies.
  3. Any other class of insurance policies that may be notified by IRDA.
  1. The Approved Person shall ensure all its employees possess adequate information about the procedures involved for opening the e-insurance account for the policyholders / eIA applicants.
  2. The Approved Person shall train its employees on the KYC and due diligence process to be carried out at the time of acceptance of e-Insurance account opening forms received either from the policy holder, agent or insurer.
  3. The trainings referred at point 2 and 3 above shall be overseen by the Insurance Repository.
  4. The Approved Person shall maintain a checklist for the list of approved KYC documents for guidance to public.
  5. No application forms shall be accepted without the KYC documents or without verifying with the original documents / validating through the procedures prescribed by the I R.
  6. The various policy servicing areas and activities that may be attended by an Approved Person as delegated by I R are:
  1. Opening of eIA account – receipt and scrutiny of eIA forms received from the insurer, policyholder or agent separately or as part of new policy applications. Approved Person shall be responsible for carrying out the KYC due diligence process as mentioned below under “KYC due diligence” before forwarding the documents for creation of the eIA account.
  2. Change of address - Accepting Change of Address requests, verifying / validation the proof of residence document submitted along with the original and forwarding valid requests to insurance repository for onward processing.
  3. Change of nomination - Accepting nomination requests and forwarding them to insurance repository.
  4. Accept Change of name of policyholder/life assured/father of life assured/husband of life assured and all other corrections in the address.
  5. Accept requests / delivery for premium paid certificates.
  6. Collection of renewal premiums only through Account Payee cheques payable in favor of the respective insurer and depositing the same as per Section 64 VB of the Act.
  7. Reconciliation of the total premium receipt issued and the premium amount collected and sending daily report to the insurance repository for intimation to the Insurer.
  8. Accept Change of mode of payment. (Like ECS/Credit card/Standing instruction/Salary saving scheme, Yly to Hly and vice versa etc)
  9. Accept request received from the policy holder for appointment of Authorized Representative and forwarding the request to insurance repository for processing.
  10. Accept Assignment Intimation to the insurer and forward the request to insurance repository for further necessary action.
  11. Dispatch of e-Insurance account statements, Change of Address confirmations etc to the policyholder’s communication address.
  1. The Approved Person shall not accept any service requests from the policy holder post closure of the e-Insurance account.
  2. KYC due diligence:
    As per norms before opening eIA, the approved person shall carry out the KYC due diligence described as under:
  1. ID Proof checking:
    At the time of acceptance of an application for opening an eIA, whether separately or in conjunction with an application for a new policy, the Approved Person shall verify whether the application is accompanied by a copy of an approved ID Proof document, PAN card or the Aadhar card. The Approved Person shall verify the copy of the ID proof against the original and stamp and sign the copy as “original checked”. Applications not accompanied by a valid ID proof shall be rejected under advice to policyholder.
  2. Address Proof checking:
    The Approved Person shall check whether applicant has given a copy any one of the following documents as proof of address. The Approved Person shall verify the copy of the ID proof with the original and put a stamp “original checked” and sign the same.
I) Ration Card
II) Passport
III) Aadhaar letter
IV) Voter ID Card
V) Driving license
VI) Bank Passbook statement(not more than 6 months old)
VII) Verified copies of
a) Electricity bills (not more than 6 months old),
b) Residence Telephone bills (not more than 6 months old) and
c) Registered Lease and License agreement / Agreement for sale.
VIII. Self-declaration by High Court and Supreme Court judges, giving the new address in respect of their own accounts.
IX. Identity card/document with address, issued by
a) Central/State Government and its Departments,
b) Statutory/Regulatory Authorities,
c) Public Sector Undertakings,
d) Scheduled Commercial Banks,
e) Public Financial Institutions,
f) Colleges affiliated to universities; and
g) Professional Bodies such as ICAI, ICWAI, Bar Council etc. to their Members.
In case of non-availability of Address proof, the Approved Person shall return the eIA opening form to applicant and inform the applicant to resubmit the eIA with any one of the address proof documents mentioned above.
c. Where the e-insurance account is opened through an insurer, Approved Person shall ensure that:
  1. that there is a valid request from the policy holder for opening of e-Insurance account;
  2. confirmation / evidence of receipt and verification of original documents by Insurer; and
  3. copy of the ID and Address proof is received by Approved Person
d.Where there is a request for change of address in respect of an e-insurance account, the approved person shall ensure that all requirements necessary for opening of new accounts shall be fulfilled for it as well.
  1. The Approved Person shall provide a physical point of presence (POP) for policy holders, intermediaries and Insurers to transact with the Insurance Repository.
  2. The Approved Person shall use its infrastructure facilities (owned or contracted), network connectivity, systems and manpower to provide the required services to the Insurance Repository.
  3. The Approved person shall ensure Name Board is visible and is in prominent place for easy identification for the policy holders and insurers.
  4. The Insurance Repositories shall ensure maintenance of sufficient stock of e-insurance application forms, change of address request, change of investment details etc in the office premises of the Approved Persons to facilitate servicing to the policy holder.
  5. The Approved Person shall display official timings, business days and holidays.
  6. The Approved Person must have a process to segregate complaints and queries received from the policy holders and forward the same to the Insurance Repository or as directed by the I R as per agreed time limits for onward processing or compliant resolution.
  7. The Approved Person’s employees shall be well trained and possess good communication skills to handle the queries of the policy holders.
  8. The Manual Acknowledgement books shall be kept in sufficient quantities by the approved person for issuing acknowledgements to the policy holders.
  9. The Approved Person shall ensure that all the requests received are date stamped and recorded in the inward register and are reconciled on a daily basis.
  10. The Approved Person shall ensure that all the requests received from the policy holders, agents or insurers are scanned and applications are dispatched / forwarded to the insurance repository for processing on T+1 day, T being the date of receipt of application from the policy holders.
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