Funds and Investment: What Is Insurance
Funds and Investment: What Is Insurance
Funds and Investment: What Is Insurance
The business of insurance is related to the protection of the economic values of assets. Every asset
has a value. The asset would have been created through the efforts of the owner. The asset is
valuable to the owner, because he expects to get some benefits from it. It is a benefit because it
meets some of his needs. The benefit may be an income or in some other form. In the case of a
factory or a cow, the product generated by it is sold and income is generated. In the case of a motor
car, it provides comfort and convenience in transportation. There is no direct income. Both are assets
and provide benefits.
BRIEF HISTORY OF INSURANCE
Insurance has been known to exist in some form or other since 3000 BC.V The Chinese traders,
traveling treacherous river rapids would distribute their goods among several vessels, so that the loss
from any one vessel being lost, would be partial and shared, and not total. The Babylonian traders
would agree to pay additional sums to lenders, as the price for writing off the loans, in case of the
shipment being stolen. The inhabitants of Rhodes adopted the principle of general average, whereby,
if goods are shipped together, the owners would bear the losses in proportion, if loss occurs, due to
jettisoning during distress. (Captains of ships caught in storms, would throw away some of the cargo
to reduce the weight and restore balance. Such throwing away is called jettisoning) The Greeks had
started benevolent societies in the late 7th century AD, to take care of the funeral and families of
members who died. The friendly societies of England were similarly constituted. The Great Fire of
London in 1666, in which more than 13000 houses were lost, gave a boost to insurance and the first
fire insurance company, called the Fire Office, was started in 1680.
Purpose and Need of Insurance
Assets are insured, because they are likely to be destroyed or made nonfunctional before the
expected life time, through accidental occurrences. Such possible occurrences are called perils. Fire,
floods, breakdowns, lightning, earthquakes, etc, are perils. If such perils can cause damage to the
asset, we say that the asset is exposed to that risk. Perils are the events. Risks are the consequential
losses or damages. The risk to a owner of a building, because of the peril of an earthquake, may be a
few lakhs or a few crores of rupees, depending on the cost of the building, the contents in it and the
extent of damage.
How insurance works
People facing common risks come together and make their small contributions to a common fund.
The contribution to be made by each person is determined on the assumption that while it may not be
possible to tell beforehand, which person will suffer, it is possible to tell, on the basis of past
experiences, how many persons, on an average, may suffer losses.
Human Asset
A human being is an income generating asset. Ones income generating ability depends on ones
skills, (manual, professional, problem solving, entrepreneurial, etc). These are the assets. The value
of the asset can be measured by considering the income that is generated by the person concerned.
The concept of Human Life Values, provides scientific ways to determine the asset value of the
human life and therefore, the amount of life insurance required.. These techniques, like other
techniques related to selling, will have to be learnt on the job
High Cost Deposit:Deposits accepted above card rate (for the deposits) of the bank.
Liquid Assets:Liquid assets consists of: cash, balances with RBI, balances in current accounts with banks, money
at call and short notice, inter-bank placements due within 30 days and securities under held for
trading and available for sale categories excluding securities that do not have ready market.
Capital Funds
Equity contribution of owners. The basic approach of capital adequacy framework is that a bank
should have sufficient capital to provide a stable resource to absorb any losses arising from the risks
in its business. Capital is divided into different tiers according to the characteristics / qualities of each
qualifying instrument. For supervisory purposes capital is split into two categories: Tier I and Tier II.
Tier I Capital
A term used to refer to one of the components of regulatory capital. It consists mainly of share capital
and disclosed reserves (minus goodwill, if any). Tier I items are deemed to be of the highest quality
because they are fully available to cover losses Hence it is also termed as core capital.
Tier II Capital
Refers to one of the components of regulatory capital. Also known as supplementary capital, it
consists of certain reserves and certain types of subordinated debt. Tier II items qualify as regulatory
capital to the extent that they can be used to absorb losses arising from a bank's activities. Tier II's
capital loss absorption capacity is lower than that of Tier I capital.
Classification Of NPA
SUBSTANDARD ASSETS:- 12 month
DOUBTFUL ASSETS :- Next 12 month
LOSS ASSETS:- Next 12 month (But uncertain time)
Reselling of NPA
Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC)
* NPAs are subjected to resold but the puchaser can only be ARC.
A company which is set up with the objective of taking over distressed assets (NPA) from banks or
financial institutions and to reconstruct or re-pack these assets to make those assets saleable.
To buy out troubled loans from banks and make special efforts at recovering value from the assets, if
necessary by special legislation, with special powers for recovery.
Restructuring of weak banks to divest the bad loan portfolio.
Indias first ARC with an initial equity of Rs.10 crore with ICICI bank, IDBI and SBI.
Incorporated as a public limited company on February 11, 2002.
LOK ADALAT
To settle disputes involving account in doubtful and loss category.
Outstanding balance of Rs.20 lakhs for compromise settlement.
Proved to be quite effective for speedy justice and recovery of small loans.
Progress through this channel is expected to pick up in the coming years.
According to RBI: Any amount to be recived remains overdue for the period of more than 90 days.
" So 90 days is a thumb rule for deciding NPA."
" For agriculture loan (For deciding NPA):
1- If 6 month crop than, 2 crop seasons.
2- If one year crop , than 1 crop season.
Classification Of NPA
SUBSTANDARD ASSETS:- 12 month
DOUBTFUL ASSETS :- Next 12 month
LOSS ASSETS:- Next 12 month (But uncertain time)
Reselling of NPA
Asset Reconstruction Company (ARC)
* NPAs are subjected to resold but the puchaser can only be ARC.
A company which is set up with the objective of taking over distressed assets (NPA) from banks or
financial institutions and to reconstruct or re-pack these assets to make those assets saleable.
To buy out troubled loans from banks and make special efforts at recovering value from the assets, if
necessary by special legislation, with special powers for recovery.
Restructuring of weak banks to divest the bad loan portfolio.
Indias first ARC with an initial equity of Rs.10 crore with ICICI bank, IDBI and SBI.
Incorporated as a public limited company on February 11, 2002.
LOK ADALAT
To settle disputes involving account in doubtful and loss category.
Outstanding balance of Rs.20 lakhs for compromise settlement.
Proved to be quite effective for speedy justice and recovery of small loans.
Progress through this channel is expected to pick up in the coming years.