Insurance through ATMS

TE Narasimhan, Chennai
Business Standard
Chennai-based financial services technology company, Polaris Software Lab, has come out with a new technology that would allow insurers to sell their products and collect renewal premium through ATMs. The company is in talks with two insurers for implementing its solution.

SR Ramaswami, executive vice-president and head (insurance), Polaris Software Lab, said the idea was to provide customers the flexibility and convenience to take policies and pay premium in a cost-effective manner.

For instance, if a customer is planning to buy a travel policy, he can walk in to his nearest ATM and key in the policy requirements by using his debit or credit card. An electronic message is sent to the insurance policy system, which in turn will send the confirmation electronic message to the ATM. Once the confirmation is received, the ATM will provide a receipt that will contain details like name of the customer, country to which he/she is travelling, policy start date, end date and policy value and the type of coverage.

If the customer extends his stay abroad, he can top-up the policy by accessing one of the ATMs abroad. Similarly, an insured can renew his policy. Through the new solution, each transaction would cost up to Rs 2 and the maximum time it would take will be around three minutes, he said. Currently, the idea is in the concept stage. European and Australian insurance firms have shown interest in trying this technology, he added.