August 1, 2019 (MLN): The life insurance industry of Pakistan has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Central Depository Company of Pakistan (CDC) under which policyholder information will be digitalized through development of Centralized Insurance Repository (CIR), with the technological support of the CDC Pakistan.
The signing of MOU was facilitated by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) yesterday, July 31, 2019.
The establishment of e-Repository will prove as a landmark achievement for the insurance industry and will pave way for entering the next phase of digitalization which is being explored by the financial sector already.
The e-Repository is expected to enable the centralized storage of life insurance and family takaful policies in electronic form and serve as central point for critical policyholder related information with regards to insurance.
Moreover, the e-Repository is expected to not only bring transparency, speed, convenience and cost efficiency, but is also expected to complement the objectives of Ease of Doing Business (EODB) and enhanced consumer protection in multi-pronged manner.
The issues around automatic claim intimation to multiple insurers, non-financial endorsements, curbing the policy churning malpractice, and complementing the financial underwriting are few of the expected benefits of the proposed Repository system.
The e-Repository may also serve as Regulatory Technology (RegTech) which can help insurance companies in improving compliance with the applicable AML regime.
