India’s markets regulator wants insurance policies added to electronic consolidated account statements, bringing cover closer to bank deposits and securities in a single digital view.
India’s market regulator has asked the insurance watchdog to help push insurance policy information into the country’s online consolidated account statements, in a move that could bring bank deposits, securities holdings and cover under a single digital view. According to the report from The Hindu BusinessLine, Securities and Exchange Board of India chairperson Tuhin Kanta Pandey said he had written to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India seeking coordination so insurance data could be reflected alongside other financial assets in the statement used by investors. The idea builds on the growing use of the account aggregator framework, which is designed to let consumers share financial data across institutions more easily.
Pandey’s remarks come as Indian regulators are widening the scope of financial data sharing. The Reserve Bank of India has already said account aggregators will be interoperable, allowing customers to choose which aggregator handles their data flows rather than being tied to a bank’s preferred provider. In the same set of measures, the RBI also said the electronic consolidated account statement will include bank deposit information, extending an investor’s view beyond mutual funds and demat holdings. If SEBI succeeds in bringing insurance into that picture as well, the result would be a more complete financial record for households and advisers.
The proposal also fits with IRDAI’s own work on digital record-keeping. Business Standard reported earlier this year that the insurer regulator had proposed a Public Insurance Registry as a digital public infrastructure for the sector, intended to link verified insurance information while leaving the underlying records with the institutions that maintain them. Separately, IRDAI already operates an insurance repository system that lets policyholders keep policies in electronic form through an e-insurance account, a structure meant to improve transparency, efficiency and access.
Pandey also used the event to flag other market-structure issues. The Hindu BusinessLine reported that the Securities and Exchange Board of India is in talks with the National Payments Corporation of India over a merchant discount rate on UPI payments for capital market transactions, after concerns from brokers and industry figures about the cost of the levy. NPCI has delayed the change until Diwali. Pandey added that discussions on the stock lending and borrowing mechanism were moving through a working group, and that a consultation paper on the subject is a high priority for the regulator.
Disclaimer: This article is intended to inform and educate, not to recommend or endorse any financial product, investment or strategy. Please consider your own financial circumstances and seek professional advice where appropriate before making financial decisions.
