Regulator loosens rules for empanelled actuaries

The IRDAI has eased rules for empanelled actuaries, allowing them to undertake valuations for more than one insurer every quarter.

The move comes as insurers are facing difficulty hiring actuaries for the mandated valuation of their liabilities every quarter of the financial year

Actuaries for life and general insurers will continue to remain separate. However, the IRDAI has allowed each actuary for general insurers to work with as many as three firms in each quarter. This can include one standalone health insurer, one general insurer and one general insurance business of a reinsurer.

Similarly, actuaries undertaking valuations for life insurers are now allowed to work with one life insurer and one life insurance business of a reinsurer in each quarter.

“This has been done to enhance the availability of actuaries,” said the IRDAI in a circular, adding that it had received requests from many insurers on the issue.

Under original guidelines issued in February 2017, the insurance regulator had said that each panel actuary would not be involved in the annual statutory valuation of more than one insurer in any financial year.

The IRDAI had selected the panel last year to help insurance companies use their services in case they could not appoint their own actuary. At present, there is a panel of eight actuaries for the general insurance sector, and four for life insurance players.