About Mr. Sainesh Dar
Sainesh has more than two decades of a very diverse work experience which has seen him engaged with leading companies across the multidimensional service industries ranging from telecom, satellite & broadcast, banking, insurance and education. His last 10 years have been spent as an integral part of the CII operations across South Asia and Middle East. At the CII, Sainesh’s role first involved setting up of the CII’s liaison office in India in 2007 and later the subsidiary company; Chartered Institute of Insurance and Financial Services Pvt. Ltd. in 2011. He has also been involved in forging strong relationships for the CII in the markets of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Middle East.
His previous roles include a stint with Hollard Insurance Co. Ltd (the leading independent Insurer in South Africa) where he was the National Sales Head for their AMSURE venture in India. He also had two roles at Tata AIG Life, first based in Delhi where he was heading their Broking and Corporate Agency business for North. It was during this time that he conceptualised and then established the ‘Tata AIG academy of excellence’ a landmark learning and development initiative for the company in India. He later moved to Mumbai as the Head of Strategic Alliances for them. At the start of his career Sainesh was fortunate to be part of the core strategic team of Reliance Industries that launched the Reliance infocom business in India. Later on he was also part of the strategic team that launched the credit card business for HDFC bank in India.
Q1. Please tell us about the history of CII, London and when did you start offering courses in India
A: 2012 saw the CII celebrating the Centenary of the granting of its Royal Charter. From the founding of the first insurance institute in 1873, the amalgamation of the 10 local institutes into the Federation of Insurance Institutes of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 1897 to the Cll as we know it today, membership of the CII signifies valued qualities such as integrity, knowledge and competence, builds the reputation of individuals and fosters trust amongst the public.
In India, Cll established a Liaison Office in October 2007. It already had a strong base of members and students in India and the South Asia region, many of whom were requesting additional support for their professional development. To meet and service this demand we established a wholly owned subsidiary; the Chartered Institute of Insurance and Financial Services Private Limited (“CIIFS”) in 2010. The development of CII’s activity in the South Asia region is mainly focussed on our Royal Charter working to “secure and justify the confidence of the public” by providing professional courses and learning support to corporate clients in order to train and improve their employee’s knowledge and thereby raise the professional standards in insurance and financial services.
CII has closely worked with the LIC to raise levels of capability and professional standards, through the introduction of qualifications and training programmes in Financial Planning. We successfully implemented the CII’s ‘Award in Financial Planning (AWI)’ programme across LIC zonal offices. The AWI content was customized to suit the LIC’s requirements. More than 3000 of LIC’s top agents and direct officers were enrolled for the AWI programme. Cll also developed a short course that helped the LIC agents enhance their ability to build successful relationships with customers by understanding service quality concepts the Post Recruitment Orientation Training (PROT) programme.
In 2010, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) conducted a review of the existing life agent licensing qualification (IC33), and felt the need to overhaul the same. It was decided to utilize the expertise of the CII in enhancing the existing IC33 “License to practice” qualification. The new syllabus, learning outcomes, course book and examination were all developed by the CII and rolled out by the IRDA in October 2011.
CII has been working with educational partners, life and non-life Insurance companies as well as BPOs to promote professional standards across different segments in India.
Q2. Which courses are you currently offering in India?
A: CII offers a whole host of solutions that include qualifications, accreditation, face-to-face training, online learning and membership that provides continuous professional development. CII has the world’s largest insurance library, consisting of books, journals and archival material for those dedicated to insurance, risk and related financial services (including research papers, e- learning, revision aids, think piece papers, fact files etc…).
A Certificate level qualification in Health Insurance customized specifically to the Indian Health Insurance market was launched in 2016. This qualification has been jointly developed in collaboration with IIRM and caters to the fastest growing insurance strand in the region.
Award in Financial Planning India (AWI) – this qualification too has been specifically tailored to the needs of the Indian market. The Award focuses on providing needs based advice, through the understanding of best practice in offering professional advice to clients.
Q3. How do you view the current Insurance education market in India and future prospects for Insurance related courses?
A: CII in India had appointed Business World a few years back to carry out a survey with Insurance companies in India to find out the learning and development needs of the industry and the challenges faced by the industry. The CEOS and L&D heads participated in this survey and the report findings suggested that the top strategic challenge faced by the industry was and continues to remain; attracting and retaining talent. And on the human/ talent front it was the inadequate availability of employable talent and making raw talent employable. The main outcome points included recruiting & retaining talent, inadequate availability of employable staff, technical knowledge, professional & regulatory environment, misplaced presentation & selling cases and lack of innovative products.
It is a fact that there is a general feeling of wariness and skepticism as far as the insurance industry is concerned in India at the moment. The overall environment in the world with some recent cases which compromised consumer interests has also contributed to this feeling. Personally, I am extremely optimistic that things will get better and very quickly. Thankfully all the key constituents which make up the whole of the insurance industry in India, including the regulator, insurance companies, trade bodies, brokers and market practitioners are all committed to working towards a more transparent environment where education and awareness play a key role in restoring public trust.
Q4. What is the USP of CII courses?
A: As the premier professional body for the global financial services profession, the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) promotes higher standards of integrity, technical competence and business capability. With well over 125,000 members in more than 150 countries, CII is the world’s largest professional body dedicated to insurance and financial services. Our qualifications are driven by what’s happening in the sector and enjoy a high level of acclaim among professionals and organisations worldwide. As one of the largest examination and qualification awarding bodies in the UK, the CII has delivered education to over one million students in the last few years. Success in Cll qualifications is universally acknowledged as evidence of expertise and understanding. In some countries, CII qualifications are made mandatory by the regulator for certain key positions in the Insurance industry.
Q5. Apart from regular courses are you offering any certificate courses for persons employed in Insurance sector?
A: As mentioned above; CII has been working with educational partners, life and non-life Insurance companies as well as BPOs to promote professional standards across different segments in India. The CII qualifications framework has been designed to provide a clear path for those looking to develop their career in today’s insurance and financial services market.
CII also launched a dual specialization qualification for markets outside the UK in 2016 (suitable for the Indian market as well). On successful completion of 3 exams (out of 5), CII members can use the designation ‘Certificate in Insurance and Financial Services’ – a dual specialisation certificate qualification.
Q6. Do you offer classroom training in India? If yes, any plans for launching or expansion?
A: The CII qualifications are designed for a self-study route; however, we do work with corporates (as and when the need arises) to develop and deliver bespoke training courses. CII’s also has more than 200 short courses (not linked to exams) that makes the CII a one stop-shop training provider. We work in partnership with employers/ companies to develop relevant training solutions that are driven by business needs and deliver lasting results. These short courses can also be licensed to run on the company’s own premises, or other required locations, delivered by their own staff. Where required, we can also provide ‘train the trainer’ services and provide whatever support is necessary to ensure effective delivery.
Q7. What is your current strength of students in India and any target you have set for next financial year?
A: The CII has tied-up with more than 50 companies in India including BPO’s, Insurance companies, educational Institutions and we are also currently in discussion with some of the top Insurance brokers in India regarding potential tie-ups. Apart from corporate clients and education partners; we also have individual students taking CII qualifications through a self-study route. The CII public exams are held twice a year across 14 locations in India where these students take CII exams. In all, more than 2000 students sit for CII exams every year at our exam centres across India.
Q8. What is the mode of all exams offline, online and number of exam centres in India?
A: There are three modes in which CII exams are held – 1. In- house exams- we can hold pen and paper in-house exams at client premises (6 times a year). 2. Public exams- CII holds exams twice a year (April and October) across multiple locations globally (14 centres in India), as per the CII public- exam timetable and 3. Online exam – whereby the exams can be held all throughout the year at the client premises and the exam results are declared immediately after the exam. There is a onetime set-up cost for installing the CII online exam system.
Q9. Any other development you would like to share ?
A: It’s been just over a year since CII launched its new strategic manifesto outlining the Chartered Insurance Institute’s plans to secure and justify the confidence of the public. We are committed to becoming more modern, relevant and diverse by focusing on ways to provide relevant learning, insightful leadership and an engaged membership. Our transformation programme has provided an array of ideas to help us make the changes necessary to achieve our strategic goals and bring added value to our members. We aim to complete all the ongoing projects and achieve the set goals by 2020.
