GLOBAL SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
[FINANCIAL SYSTEM]
STUDY ON MAX NEW YORK LIFE INSURANCE FOR WOMEN SUBMITTED TO
MAX NEW YORK LIFE INSURANCE
Max New York Life Insurance Company Ltd. is a joint venture between Max
India Limited, one of India's leading multi-business corporations and New York
Life International, the international arm of New York Life, a Fortune 100
company. The company has positioned itself on the quality platform. In line
with its vision to be the most admired life insurance company in India, it has
developed a strong corporate governance model based on the core values of
excellence, honesty, knowledge, caring, integrity and teamwork.
Incorporated in 2000, Max New York Life started commercial operation in
April 2001. In line with its values of financial responsibility, Max New York
Life has adopted prudent financial practices to ensure safety of policyholder's
funds. The Company's paid up capital as on 30th April, 2009 is Rs 1,786 crore.
Max New York Life has multi-channel distribution spread across the country.
Agency distribution is the primary channel complemented by partnership
distribution, bancassurance, alliance marketing and dedicated distribution for
emerging markets. The Company places a lot of emphasis on its selection
process for agent advisors, which comprises four stages - screening,
psychometric test, career seminar and final interview. The agent advisors are
trained in-house to ensure optimal control on quality of training. The company
currently has around 72,493 agent advisors at 715 offices across 389 cities. The
company also has 36 referral tie-ups with banks, 24 partnership distribution and
alliance marketing relationships each. Max New York Life has put in place a
unique hub and spoke model of distribution to deepen our rural penetration.
This is the first time such a model has been put in place for rural marketing of
insurance. The company has 139 offices dedicated to rural areas.
Max New York Life offers a suite of flexible products. It now has 33 products
covering both life and health insurance and 8 riders that can be customized to
over 800 combinations enabling customers to choose the policy that best fits
their need. Besides this, the company offers 6 products and 7 riders in group
insurance business.
The company currently has more than 10,590 employees
Some of the Industry Firsts
First company to provide Freelook period of 15 days to the customer.
This was later made mandatory by the regulator
First company to start toll free line for agent services
First and the only life insurance company in India to implement Lean
methodology of service excellence in service industry
First life insurance company in India to provide various services to the
agents and customers over phone
First Indian life insurance company to start service center at the regional
level
First life insurance company in India to receive ISO 9001:2000
certification
First life insurance company to be awarded CII-EXIM Bank
commendation certificate for “Strong Commitment to Excel”.
Awards
Outlook Money survey ranked MNYL No.1 in Slow, Medium and Quick
fund categories
BT Mercer – Ranked No7 in the “Best companies to Work For”
Awarded the Gallup Great Work Place Award 2009
CII – Exim Bank Commendation Certificate for Business Excellence –
2008 & 2009
Received ‘Best Six Sigma Project’ award at 6th CII National Six Sigma
conventions – 2009.
Recognized as a Superbrand
Recipient of 2008 CIO 100 Award for technology implementation
Golden Peacock Award for Innovation – 2008
Among the top 25 companies to work for in India, according to
Businessworld 2003 ‘Great Workplaces of India’
Among the top five most respected insurance companies in India as per
Businessworld 2004 & 2006 survey
Won Indo-American Corporate Excellence Award for Best Indo-US
company in Financial Services Category in 2006
Received ‘Best Six Sigma Project’ award at Sakal Six Sigma Excellence
Awards – 2006
Among top 3 in Asia Life Insurance Company of the Year Award 2007
instituted by Asia Insurance Review
Received the Amity Corporate Excellence Award – 2007
Received the ‘Outlook Money Award’ for being “among the best new
insurers in the country”.
Max New York Life bags the Asia Insurance Industry ‘Innovation of the
Year’ Award 2009.
LIFE INSURANCE FOR WOMEN
Nature has created men and women differently but their reason to buy life
insurance remains broadly the same. Both men and women buy life insurance to
protect their family, replace lost income in case he / she dies, provide for own
retirement, fund long-term needs such as children’s education and marriage and
to pay off mortgages. But here comes the difference. Though the needs are the
same, men and women think and behave differently in many aspects of life,
including financial planning and protection. The financial needs of women
become different because they have higher life expectancy than men, which
results in more women living alone after their partner is gone.
World over it has been found that women have either no or little life insurance.
Max New York Life – NCAER India Financial Protection Survey revealed that
the same is true for India also. Of the life insurance owners in India only 14%
are women. Is that women do not require life insurance or is it lack of
awareness of the need for life insurance for women? Even in a highly developed
market like US, it has been found that though 59% of the women own life
insurance as compared to 64% of the men, the average death benefit on men is
nearly double that for women.
Homemaker is one large group of women in India. Let me focus first on the
needs of this most important group. Many a time it is argued that homemakers
do not require life insurance as they are not the earning members and their loss
would not result in financial stress. However, it has been found that it is not
true. In fact, it has been found that it adds up to significant cost to get the
services of homemakers through third party and hence require life insurance for
homemaker women also.
Modern women, who is an earning member and an equal partner in managing
the finances of the household, requires life insurance as much as the earning
male members. It has been found that when it comes to planning for long-term
needs like children education, marriage and other social events, women are
better planners and take the lead in the household. But to meet such need the
instruments opted by them are not appropriate. Women should consider bundled
life insurance products that offer both protection and wealth creation to meet
such needs. Unit Linked Insurance Policies (ULIP) and other endowment
policies are found to be the best tools for such needs.
The women in two income households should also consider taking financial
protection cover. She should consider if anything happens to her and the income
she generates, would her family be able to maintain the standard of living.
Would her children be able to achieve their education goals? They should
consider taking protection cover through a combination of term and bundled
products, so that if anything happens to her, the life could go on as earlier.
As women have higher life expectancy, they also need to plan for their financial
security for those years when their caring partner would not be there to provide
for their financial needs. Women should consider retirement planning
instruments, which continue to give them annuities (pension) till their last days.
Several retirement plans and whole life plans are available in the market.
The need for life insurance is most pronounced in the case of single women
heading a household. This could have happened due to divorce or the death of
spouse. As a single parent, she may be the sole breadwinner, responsible for the
support to her children and hence must invest in financial protection insurance
so that the life insurance can replace the income she is bringing to the
household.
Do single women, with no children to support, require life insurance? She may
not have anyone to support but may still have loans and mortgages. These
obligations, which could fall on parents or other loved one, can be met through
life insurance. Life insurance is also important to protect her old age and cover
against the risk of living too long.
It would not be incorrect to say that for women at any life stage and of any
demographic profile, life insurance is important to meet her financial protection
and long-term wealth creation needs. It is never too early to invest in life
insurance and hence the day you start earning, you should start investing in life
insurance. At the same time it is never too late. If you have not started, the cost
of getting financial protection and creating corpus to meet your financial needs
would be higher, but it is never too late to start.
The women of all age groups and of every profile should consider her needs,
consider income and expenses and must allocate a certain portion of disposable
income towards buying appropriate life insurance. The best option is to consult
an expert financial advisor and take immediate action on the suggested financial
plan to live a stress free life.
