mumbainew delhi in an interesting twist to the issue of sebi ban on unit linked insurance products ulips of 14 life insurers irda chairman j hari narayan has asked all the 14 companies to continue with their business as usual notwithstanding the order of sebi the irda chairman sent an email to all the insurance companies after consultations with irdas consultative committee on the issuethe irda is satisfied that the order of sebiwill bring the insurance industry to a standstill which would not be in public interest and would be detrimental to the interests of the policyholders and prejudicial to the interests of the insurers the mail noted hence irda directed to note all the insurance companies that they shall continue to carry out insurance business as usual including offering marketing and servicing ulips in accordance with the insurance act 1938 rules regulations and guidelines issued thereunder by the irdaon friday sebi banned 14 private life insurers including industry majors icici prudential life reliance life and sbi life from selling ulips unless they registered with sebi and took its permission to sell these products the decision followed showcause notices to these entities asking them to explain why action should not be taken against them for selling ulips with sebi permission interestingly staterun life insurance major lic was spared by sebi from selling ulipsearlier in the day irda in a statement on its website assured ulip holders that such policies were safe and secured policyholders of ulips offered by different insurance companies are assured that these policies are safe and secure and the matters arising out of the recent orders of sebi will be addressed expeditiously in the appropriate forum in accordance with the law noted an irda release signed by its chairman j hariharanduring the day in delhi the finance ministry distanced itself from the ongoing row between stock market regulator securities and exchange board of india sebi and the insurance regulator insurance regulatory and development authority irda over the issue of unit linked insurance plans ulips sold by insurance companies on saturday finance secretary ashok chawla said that it was an issue between the two regulators and they should resolve it among themselvesthe issue of regulating ulips had earlier come up in the meeting of highlevel coordination committee where it was decided that this would be resolved by the two regulatorssebi and irda but the stock market regulators order late on friday has brought differences between the two regulatory bodies out in the open and a senior official said that the finance ministry will have to mediate to resolve the tussle