An Overview Insurance Marketing Firm
Insurance Marketing Firm aka IMF refers to the new distribution channel authorized by IRDAI. The launch of the IMF was recommended by the Govardhan Committee report in 2017, which enables applicants to become IMF as per the underlying norms and have various tie-ups with insurers. In 2015, the IRDAI rolled out the norms concerning the registration of IMFs.
Services offered by the Insurance Marketing Firm
An Insurance Marketing Firm essentially facilitates the given categories of services:
Procuring and Soliciting insurance policies
According to the IRDA norms, an IMF reserves the right to procure and solicit insurance services. IMF can engage with as many insurers as it wants. As a marketing firm, the IMF can serve as an intermediary or broker of insurance products.
Facilitating Insurance Services
IMFs can team up with Insurance repositories, registered surveyors, loss assessors, TPAs, etc. This strategic partnership can help them serve areas such as:
Marketing Financial Products
IMF can also perform the marketing of financial products as per the IRDA norms:
Eligibility Criteria for establishing Insurance marketing firm
The following are the conditions penned down by the IRDA for the establishment of an Insurance Marketing Firm in India:
Documents required to start an Insurance Marketing Firm in India
The listed below is the type of documents to be arranged by the applicant to set up an IMF in India:
- Certificate of incorporation
- Charter documents like Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association
- LLP agreement
- Qualification and details concerning the principal officer
- Qualification and details concerning Financial Service Executive(s)
- Qualification and details concerning Insurance Sale Person(s)
- Net worth certificate
- Bank account statement
- Three-year business plan
- Details concerning the IMF infrastructure
- Undertaking by the principal officer affirming the authenticity of the information and documents provided
- Photographs concerning equipment and manpower
- Consent letter from the insurance entities that the applicant firm wishes to team up with.
In regards to an insurance firm, IRDA has penned down stringent rules concerning documentation. Therefore, it is vital for the applicant to double-check the accuracy of the paperwork before providing them to the authority.
Registration Process of the Insurance Marketing Firm
The process of securing registration for the Insurance Marketing Firm is as follows:
Step 1: Arrange the required paperwork
No registration process deems complete without apt paperwork. Hence, your first step should be arranging the document as mentioned above.
Step 2: File the online application
The second step is to file an online application for establishing IMF. To do so, head over to the official government portal and get access to the e-form concerning IMF certification. While filling up the form, make sure to provide legitimate information to avert the likelihood of cancellation.
Step 3: Upload the mandatory documents
In this step, you would be required to upload the mandatory document in the format recommended by the authority.
Step 4: Pay the fees and secure the acknowledgment number
Once you are done with the document uploading, visit the payment gateway to submit the application fee. After successful fee submission, the portal will generate the acknowledgment number that will help with application tracking.
Step 5: Application vetting and grant of certificate
The application will then be vetted by the authority for loopholes. If the authority points out any error, the application will be intimated with the issue to fix it in the given timeline. If no error is found, the authority shall accord the registration certificate.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Certificate of incorporation
- MOA/LLP agreement
- Qualification details concerning the Financial Service Executive, director, insurance salesperson
- Net worth certificate
- IMF infrastructure details
- Three-year Business Plan
- Declarations Bank Account Statement
- IMF examination clearance certificate