India's largest general insurance company, New India Assurance Co. Ltd., (www.niacl.com) and AMP Sanmar Life Insurance Co. Ltd., (www.ampsanmar.com) have entered into an agreement to cross sell each other's insurance products. Under this agreement, New India's selected general insurance policies are to be marketed through the AMP Sanmar's Advisor network, while AMP Sanmar's life insurance products would be marketed by New India's agency force.

The MOU on behalf of New India was signed by Mr. R. Beri, Chairman-cum-Managing Director and on behalf of AMP Sanmar, by Mr. S.V. Mony, Vice Chairman, at Mumbai today.

The training of agents/advisors of both the companies is set to commence shortly and selling of each other's products is expected to start once the licensing of the first batch of advisors is completed. The agreement foresees that a common pool of 1000 advisors would be created in three months once the training and licensing gets under way. Since the advisors from both the companies are licensed advisors the additional training requirement, as per IRDA norms, will be limited to 30 hours.

At the heart of this tie-up is the fact that a wider range of an individual customer's needs are addressed through one intermediation which will be of great convenience to the customer and covers risk through products sold through one agent or advisor. The tie-up will capitalize on the natural synergy of the agency networks already trained in financial services and geared to commission based selling. This also broadens the scope for the agency force, in line with the emerging trend today, where an insurance agent or advisor plays a much broader role in a household's financial/wealth management.

While companies with general and life insurance ventures within the same Indian promoter group have ventured into cross selling each other's products, this tie-up is the first of its kind to explore the possibility of tie-ups between two insurance companies and beyond the traditional arrangements with banks, NBFCs, Mutual Funds and Brokers. Announcing the tie-up, Mr. R.Beri, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of New India Assurance said, " New India is trying every possible way to serve the needs of the customers better and to widen its horizon. We have signed tie-ups with some of the leading Bankers so as to increase our reach. We also have arrangements with the leading vehicle manufacturers so that sales and service of insurance could be made at Dealer points itself, with post accident claim settlement in an almost cashless manner. Our claims settlements are expedited through Third Party Administrators in case of Mediclaims. We have started opening extension counters to take care of the needs of our customers who are present in remote areas. Likewise the current tie-up arrangement with AMP Sanmar to encourage is to encourage the cross selling. New India is very happy about this tie-up with AMP Sanmar Life Insurance Co., which paves way for cross selling the products of each other by the well trained common pool of agents/advisors."

Mr. A.V. Purushothaman, Director & General Manager, New India observed "We would like to give thrust to Personal Lines of Insurance such as Personal Accident Insurance, House Holders' Comprehensive Insurance and Health Insurances, such as Mediclaim and Overseas Mediclaim both in the rural and urban segments of the society and in pursuance of this objective, the tie-up with AMP Sanmar would go a long way."

Signing the MOU on behalf of AMP Sanmar, Mr. Mony, Vice Chairman, AMP Sanmar said "We are delighted to tie-up with the leader in general insurance - New India Assurance. For us this association is a matter of great pride and value. This is a win-win situation for all parties concerned - New India Assurance, AMP Sanmar and our customers." "The customer needs to contact one advisor for all his insurance needs, the Advisor increases his income potential, while both the insurance companies gain greater reach. Ultimately the customer is the beneficiary."

Mr. B. Natraj, Director and Chief Operating Officer, AMP Sanmar said "New India and AMP Sanmar will also explore the possibility of launching tailor made co-branded products. We launched our Unit Linked Investment Plan Kanaka Shree on July 28th and the response has been overwhelming. This relationship with New India Assurance should offer individual customers much needed combined products from both life and general insurance field."