Maintaining a balance between cost optimisation and investment in future-ready skills is critical for long-term growth. Cost management is an integral part of the growth strategy and the cost which they have saved or to be saved through various process efficiencies and automation projects are re-invested in modern technologies and initiatives, shared Tarun Rustagi, Chief Financial Officer, Canara HSBC Life Insurance in an exclusive interaction with Srajan Agarwal of Elets News Network (ENN).
Given your earlier involvement in the IRDAI working committee on Ind AS 104 (IFRS 4) (old Insurance Contract related standard), how do you foresee these standards impacting financial reporting and transparency in the insurance sector?
These are global standards and are now applied across the globe and I believe it will significantly enhance transparency and standardisation in the Indian insurance sector. New standards will bring comparability across various international geographies and provide a better and clearer understanding of insurers’ financial performance. Financial information prepared and presented under these standards will provide greater transparency, comparability, and more relevant information about the financial position of insurance companies.
Technology is a major enabler in today’s insurance landscape. How are you leveraging technology to streamline operations, enhance cost management, and improve the overall customer experience at Canara HSBC Life Insurance?
Digital transformation is a critical enabler of growth for us at Canara HSBC Life Insurance. We are actively leveraging advanced IT infrastructure and cloud adoption to streamline our processes, significantly reducing our time to market while enhancing resilience and agility. To ensure the security of customer information, we have implemented encryption protocols for data protection, which bolsters trust among our customers.
Moreover, we utilise advanced predictive analytics models to anticipate and suggest the best outcomes across different business areas, such as policy renewals, early claim detection, identifying new business opportunities, assessing underwriting risks, and enhancing customer retention. By incorporating cutting-edge algorithms and machine learning techniques, we have established a detailed customer segmentation framework based on genomic analysis. This allows us to develop customised, customer-focused solutions for service delivery and sales enhancement while also exploring new business avenues with our strategic partners.
Automation in various areas has helped us streamline cost and reduce transactional costs thus helping us to invest in newer and valuedriven initiatives.
The life insurance industry has witnessed significant digital transformation, especially post-pandemic. What steps are you taking to ensure that Canara HSBC Life remains agile and competitive in this digital-first environment?
In response to the digital transformation accelerated post-pandemic, we are determined to work towards being ahead of the curve by investing in innovative digital solutions and prioritising customer-centricity. Our digital initiatives are rooted in unlocking real value for the customer during their engagement with the firm while retaining the all-important human touch. Most of our critical applications are either on Cloud or cloud-ready thus ensuring faster enhancement, deployment, faster response time to customers and options for faster scalability. We continuously enhance the UI of our various customer-facing applications. We are also continuously working towards enhancing value-added services to our customers such as integrating health and wellness services into our customer app. We are constantly working towards evolving programs and mechanisms that unlock exceptional digital experiences for our customers- making their journey with Canara HSBC a convenient and fruitful one.
Cost management is a critical area for insurance companies. How do you strike a balance between cost optimisation and investing in future-ready capabilities like digital infrastructure and innovative products?
Maintaining a balance between cost optimisation and investment in future-ready skills is critical for long-term growth. Cost management is an integral part of our growth strategy and the cost for long-term growth. Cost management is an integral part of our growth strategy and the cost which we have saved or to be saved through various process efficiencies and automation projects are re-invested in modern technologies and initiatives (such as AIML capabilities) to provide us a continuous stream of cost efficiencies. Through a thorough CBA (costbenefit analysis) framework every material initiative/project is evaluated before we move forward on the same. Cost management and innovation is deeply embedded in our organisation.
Canara HSBC Life operates in a dynamic regulatory environment. How do you ensure financial strategies align with evolving regulations while promoting long-term growth and stability for the company?
If you notice most of the regulatory changes and frameworks are focusing on Customer centricity or working towards enhancing customer experience and trust in insurance companies. This agenda is aligned and matches our motto and the purpose of the organisation. You must have observed that customer centricity is increasingly becoming the driving force for business success, not only in the domain of financial services but across the board. We at Canara HSBC Life work towards enhancing customer proposition and experience, which we know will be the key pillar for our business growth and financial strength. Therefore, there is never a conflict between regulatory ask and our financial and long-term growth strategies. We are agile to make changes in our processes and systems according to the changes in the Regulatory environment.
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