Max New York Life Insurance Launches SMART Assure™

A Unit Linked Life Insurance Plan Positioned to Provide Higher Returns on Higher Investments

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, Monday, May 05, 2008 -- (Business Wire India)
Max New York Life Insurance today, introduced SMART Assure™, a unit-linked insurance plan positioned to provide higher returns on higher investments. The plan fulfils the customers’ primary need of protection, along with an opportunity for long-term wealth creation. The customer value proposition of SMART Assure™ is further strengthened with its unique features of efficiency, affordability and flexibility in handling the consumers’ complex financial needs

EFFICIENT

Up to 100% Allocation- SMART Assure™ offers the customer a choice of allocating up to 100% of premium paid beyond specified premium bracket. As the premium amount goes up, the allocation charges keep decreasing with no allocation charges levied on premiums upward of Rs. 3 lakhs. This strengthens the value proposition of the plan incentivising the customer to move to higher investments and get better returns.

Loyalty units on maturity- The plan allocates guaranteed Persistency Units to the customer’s Fund Value at maturity. The persistency units will be equal to a percentage of fund value at maturity.which increases with the term of the plan and thus promoting long-term saving behaviour.

AFFORDABLE

Increasing premium Option: SMART Assure™ offers an increasing premium option under which the customer has the choice to increase the annual premium by 5% of the initial premium on each policy anniversary and accordingly the sum assured also increases @ 5% per annum without any additional underwriting. This feature not only takes care of the inflation and future value of money but also enables the customer achieve a much larger fund value through a minimal increase in the premium amount each year.

FLEXIBLE

Wide Coverage- SMART Assure™ caters to wide customer segment with the entry age ranging from as low as 91 days to as high as 75 years and the maximum age at maturity of 85 years which makes it an ideal proposition for Senior Citizens seeking insurance coverage along with investments.. The customer has the flexibility to choose any policy term between 10 years to 30 years with regular payment terms. The minimum premium which can be paid under this plan iis Rs. 20,000/-.

Dynamic Fund Allocation- SMART Assure™ strikes the right balance between risk and return with respect to years remaining for year to maturity of the policy. When the policy is in its early stages, the fund would be more risk prone and the nature of the allocation changes to more secure options as the policy approaches maturity. All this happens automatically for the customers who opt for this feature and frees them from doing any manual switching of funds. Even more the asset allocation gets automatically rebalanced at every policy anniversary to ensure the asset allocation is in the right proportion at all times.

New Dynamic Opportunities Fund Introduction The company has introduced a new fund called the Dynamic Opportunities fund through which the funds will be allocated according to the market movements allowing the funds to be exposed 100% in equity when the markets are high and visa versa and thus offers stability in investments with an opportunity to harness market upsides. The investor now has a choice of shuffling his funds according to his risk appetite with six investment fund options to choose from.

Other features

The plan empowers customers to manage their investments by allowing

--Free switching up to six times a year.

--Premium redirection flexibility, free of cost up to three times a year

High quality of advice - Sold through certified agent advisors

Max New York Life has always focused on high quality of advice. To help customers better understand and manage their needs, the company has developed a special training programme for its agent advisors and employees. This certification course enables agent advisors to understand better the complex financial products, thus ensuring ethical selling and offering appropriate advice to customers based on their risk-return profile.

Announcing the launch, Max New York Life Managing Director and CEO Mr. Gary Bennett commented: We are excited to offer insurance products that respond realistically to consumers needs. With the growing need for adequate financial planning to meet requirements at different life stages it is important that people invest in instruments that are bundled with features which help in maximising their returns”

“With a range of flexible products backed by best in class services we have emerged as a leader in setting quality benchmarks, offering the most transparent documentation for our life insurance products with outstanding claims ratio. Launching SMART Assure™ is a natural progression in our journey to offer the consumer a complete choice of protection and wealth creation plans to suit their various needs.” He further added.

Mr. Debasis Sarkar. Director - Marketing, Product Management and Corporate Affairs “With this launch, we now have a customised unit linked product to meet the need of the people who want to invest a larger sum and derive maximum returns from it. This further strengthens our comprehensive Unit Linked portfolio for customers with different financial risk profiles.”

Max New York Life has sold well over 2.3 million policies with more than Rs. 70,000 crore in sum assured. It has more than 36,500 agents, who are widely recognized as among the best in the industry.

About Max New York Life Insurance www.maxnewyorklife.com

Max New York Life is a joint venture between Max India Ltd., one of India’s leading multi-business corporate and New York life, a Fortune 100 company. Max New York Life Insurance, incorporated in 2000, is one of India’s leading private life insurance companies. The company offers both individual and group life insurance solutions. It has established a wide distribution network across India. Through its wide network of highly competent life insurance agent advisors and flexible product solutions, Max New York life Insurance is creating a partnership for life with its customers in India.