SEBI bans 14 insurance firms from selling ULIPs

Mumbai, Apr 10: Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has banned fourteen private insurance companies from raising money from public for any Unit Linked Insurance Products (ULIP) citing that Unit-linked insurance policies have been launched without the regulator's consent.

The market regulator passed the order on Friday, Apr 9 night banning major insurance companies including SBI Life, ICICI Prudential and Tata AIG.

“I hereby direct the entities...not to issue any offer document, advertisement, brochure soliciting money from investors or raise money from investors by way of new or additional subscription for any product (including ULIPs) having an investment component in the nature of mutual funds, till they obtain the requisite certificate of registration from SEBI," said the SEBI order.

In the order, Prashant Saran, wholetime SEBI member, added that ULIPs launched by the insurance companies were prima facie found to be akin to the mutual fund schemes.

The fourteen insurance companies included in the ban list are:

1. SBI Life
2. ICICI Prudential
3. Tata AIG
4. Aegon Religare Life
5. Aviva Life
6. Bajaj Allianz
7. Bharti AXA
8. Birla Sunlife
9. HDFC Standard Life
10. ING Vysya Life
11. Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Life
12. Max New York Life
13. Metlife India
14. Reliance Life

However, the order will not affect existing policy holders.

OneIndia News