Kathmandu. The Indian government has appointed 57-year-old Swaminathan S. Iyer, a long-time insurance veteran, as a member of the board of directors of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India. The government has appointed him as an expert member in life insurance for a period of five years.
Iyer is the Executive Vice President, Company Secretary, Head of Regulatory Affairs, Environment, Social and Governance Affairs Department of Tata AIA Life Insurance. This is the first time that the Indian government has appointed a representative from a private sector life insurance company to the board of directors of the regulator.
Iyer is not a person who has nothing to do with insurance, even remotely, like the board members appointed by the government from the Jhaskela to the Insurance Authority of Nepal. He is a qualified person with real experience, not just alleged experience at the top management level.
According to the Asian Insurance Post, Swaminathan Tata, who has established himself as an experienced company secretary, has been working at AIA Life Insurance for the last 14 years. Before that, he was working at HDFC Bank for 10 years.
When examining the background of the person appointed as a non-life insurance expert and life insurance expert to the board of directors of the Insurance Authority of Nepal, they have never worked in an insurance company. Nor is he a person with 5 years or more of experience at a senior management level.
According to Indian media, he started his professional journey from HDFC and has also gained experience in reinsurance, management, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and management information systems.
In Nepal, political parties made the path of cadre recruitment easier by making a provision in the Insurance Act 2079 BS for people working in insurance companies to be experienced in the insurance sector instead. Then, at the time of appointment, people who were not even aware of the general principles of insurance were appointed to important positions like the director of the Insurance Authority.
