mumbai hidden charges in unitlinked insurance plans ulips will soon be history the ulip charge structure is set to become more transparent with the regulator pushing the industry into adopting a uniform nomenclature on charges the life insurance council an industry association has taken up the issue of introducing standard nomenclature for all charges across life insurance companiesspeaking to newspersons at a round table organised by the life insurance council in mumbai council secretary general sb mathur said that while companies would be free to fix their own charges there would be standardisation of the various heads under which insurance companies charge fees from ulipholders this would ensure that there is no ambiguity on the chargesin the past the mf industry has raised the issue of hidden charges in insurance products in various meetings with authorities following this the insurance regulator has been bearing down on insurers to be more transparent on charges at present ulip structures are not uniform across companies this is because ulips were introduced by various players gradually over the last eight years some joint ventures brought in ulip structures based on the product portfolios of their foreign partners it is only in the last four years that ulips moved from being one of the many insurance products to a product class that dominates all life insurance sales in the industry last year ulips were so successful that insurance companies led the financial services industry in channeling retail investments into equity in 0708 life companies pumped rs 55000 crore into equity overtaking foreign institutional investors who made net investments of rs 53403 crore the life insurance industry was far ahead of mutual funds which managed net equity investments of only rs 16305 crore the situation is likely to recur this year in the first four months of this fiscal the leanest period in sales for insurers life companies have invested rs 20000 crore in equitiesthe life insurance industry has also decided to address concerns over mutual funds bundling insurance with systematic investment plans sip to come out with products that mimic ulips companies have decided that they would not provide group cover to mutual fund plans which they feel are likely to create confusion in the mind of buyers