IRDAI pitches public insurance registry to reshape industry

Mumbai: IRDAI has proposed creating a Public Insurance Registry (PIR), a digital public infrastructure for insurance that would create a common information layer across insurers, intermediaries, reinsurers, financial institutions, government agencies and policyholders. The registry would allow insurers to access verified cross-industry policy like credit history and claims information to improve underwriting and pricing.

In a consultation paper issued earlier today, the regulator proposed a federated data architecture under which data can remain with the institution where it was collected. PIR would use common protocols and standards to allow information to be accessed and exchanged for specified purposes.

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Across all lines of insurance, PIR would enable sharing of data including standardised details of approved insurance products, consolidated policyholder and policy information such as coverage, status, nominees and claim history. It would also enable sharing of customer grievance and resolution records, standardised information on intermediaries and agents, consent-based access to external data sources such as credit history, weather and health data, regulatory and supervisory information, and centralised notifications for unclaimed benefits or death events.

Policyholders would be able to see their policies across insurers, including policy status, benefits, premium payments, claims and nominee details. It could also help customers discover unclaimed amounts and make common service requests across multiple insurers.

The regulator wants PIR to enable product comparison, suitability assessment and a digital purchase journey, shifting customers towards informed, low-cost purchases rather than intermediary-assisted, high-cost sales.

It also looks to improve transparency across distributors. PIR could enable customers to “know” their insurance intermediary or agent and access information on sales quality, persistency, complaints, mis-selling, disciplinary action and blacklisting.

For insurers, one of the proposed uses is access to anonymised, industry-wide claims and loss data.

“PIR can enable collection, collation, aggregation and analysis of anonymized loss and claim data from all insurers, and provision of actionable anonymized information,” the draft said.

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PIR could also set up periodic and structured alerts on unusual spikes or concentration of losses and claims across parts of the country, segments and sectors.

The regulator has also proposed that PIR may enable an Insurance Risk Score (IRS), a unified, consent-based score synthesising insurance history from the Insurance Information Bureau, Credit Information Companies and other permitted external data sources as a decision-support input for underwriting.

For motor insurance, PIR could provide data from the Electronic Detailed Accident Report (e-DAR) and enable aggregate analytics on settlement patterns and timelines across Motor Accident Claims Tribunals and Lok Adalats. The paper notes that insurers maintain large reserves for claims pending before MACTs and courts, while timely out-of-court settlements could be more efficient for insurers and claimants.

In life insurance, the regulator said high-value claims can sometimes be delayed because insurers lack a cross-insurer view of similar policies and prior claim outcomes. PIR could provide access to relevant cross-insurer policy and claim information, helping reduce investigation efforts and improve claim settlement efficiency.

For stolen vehicles, insurers often lose track of vehicles after settling claims because they have no simple way to know whether police or transport authorities have recovered them. PIR could connect with relevant registries to provide asset-recovery signals, helping insurers improve recoveries and reduce losses.