Red flags in Axis Bank’s insurance play

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Editor's note: On 14 October, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India fined Axis Bank Rs 2 crore. The move could dampen the ambitions that CEO Amitabh Chaudhry has for the private sector lender in the insurance sector. The fine was imposed on two counts: The bank was deemed to have violated norms around calculating the fair market value of Max Life Insurance in a series of share transactions between 2016 and 2021.Making excess gains from these share purchases beyond the permissible cap for a registered corporate agent.  The insurance regulator also fined Max Life Rs 3 crore. The insurance regulator’s scrutiny was based on eight transactions between the bank and Max Life’s promoters: Max Financial Services and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance. Axis Bank was sold shares of the life insurer at nominal rates and these shares were then sold back to the promoters at over 10x the price. In these deals, the bank pocketed a profit of Rs 898 crore. Given that Axis Bank sells insurance policies for Max Life as a bancassurance partner, IRDAI considered these transactions as commissions paid …