MyInsuranceClub.com first to bag IRDA approval

Mumbai, 16th July 2012: MyInsuranceClub.com has become the 1st IRDA (Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority of India) approved insurance comparison website in India, having received this license on Saturday July 14, 2012. With this license from IRDA, MyInsuranceClub is officially allowed to compare premiums and features of insurance policies online.

Deepak Yohannan, CEO of MyInsuranceClub says: "We are ecstatic as this is a big moment for us. Being the 1st to receive this approval is a landmark event and we will now focus on providing a much improved and superior offering to the customer. Insurance Comparison is one big game changer that could have happened to the insurance space. It democratises availability of information and gives free and instant access to everyone at the click of a few buttons. User can easily compare premiums and then proceed to buy the policy online on the insurance company's website. It is safe and transparent. Also, I feel if web aggregators are supported by insurance companies then it will result in drop in premiums, as costs of transacting online are much less compared to the other modes of sale."

Online insurance aggregation is a big hit with consumers in many developed markets and there is no reason why consumers in India should not get the benefits of simple and accurate comparison of policies. It saves time, increases competition and hence delivers better products to the end consumer. Manoj Aswani, Vice-President at MyInsuranceClub adds "We are very excited with this development. The IRDA approval actually puts a stamp of authenticity on the activities which we do and should go a long way in building trust among the consumers. Being a regulated entity brings in a host of challenges on the kind of activities we do and how we do them, but at the end of the day, they are all beneficial for the end-consumer. Hence, we think this is a step in the right direction."

The presence of insurance web aggregators is a boon to the Indian customers as they now have access to premiums of insurance policies from multiple companies in one place. This platform helps customers to independently choose a product which meets their preference of price, brand and policy benefits. Web aggregators can play an important role in promoting zero-commission products, which no intermediary is interested to sell. The huge success of low-cost online term insurance plans is a good example where web aggregators displayed these zero-commission products for the benefit of their visitors. Increasing number of online plans are being launched by insurance companies which will be priced much lower compared to offline plans.

Note for Editors:

Announcing this, Deepak Yohannan, CEO, MyInsuranceClub.com said, "Through a high-tech, analytics driven model, MyInsuranceClub.com is able to provide unbiased price and feature comparison for consumers; market information and education for insurance agents and a unique leads aggregation service for under-writers. It is far superior to what is otherwise commonly available. This is the result of MyInsuranceClub.com's partnership with one of the world's largest web usability companies."

What does MyInsuranceClub.com do?

For consumers: Buying an insurance policy is not an easy decision for anybody. This situation is made worse by the fact that there are many products from many companies with different features. Distinguishing one from the other is often difficult even for the financially savvy. MyInsuranceClub.com starts by breaking down the jargon associated with the insurance industry. It then offers an unbiased, independent and up-to-date search capability across multiple insurance providers and directs users to the insurer that best meets their individual requirements at the best possible price.

For insurance companies: To sustain the huge investments and marketing programs that Indian insurance companies are making they need to grow fast. A supply of high-quality prospective customers interested to buy insurance products is a critical enabler to the sales machines of the large insurance companies. MyInsuranceClub.com with its network of relationships with a large number of insurance companies is perfectly poised to address this need of the burgeoning Indian insurance industry.

The Team

Deepak Yohannan, an alumnus of IIM Calcutta co-founded MyinuranceClub.com along with Manoj Aswani. Prior to this Deepak held several senior management positions in leading financial services organizations such as GE Capital, CitiFinancial and Moneyline India. Manoj Aswani too has a wealth of experience in the BFSI sector having worked for Moneyline, HDFC and CitiFinancial before joining hands with Deepak.

About the Company:

MyInsuranceClub is the flagship website of iGear Financial Services Private Limited which was launched in late 2009. The unique aspect of this refreshing website is that it solely focuses on comparison of insurance products. The website displays premiums, features and other product benefits for policies of life insurance, health insurance and car insurance - three of the most popular products for retail customers. In less than 30 months of operations, MyInsuranceClub has become one of the leading websites for comparing insurance. More than 40 lakh visitors have used the comparison services of MyInsuranceClub.com since inception.

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