Mumbai: The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA) on Tuesday reprimanded BNP Paribas Cardif, the foreign promoter of SBI Life Insurance Company for selling five crore shares of SBI Life to multiple parties without seeking its prior approval. However the regulator abstained from penalising the foreign insurer.

The IRDAI in an order on Tuesday said that Cardif on March 29, 2019 sold 5.069 per cent of SBI Life’s total shareholding, by way of on-market transaction without taking prior approval of the regulator which was a violation of extant rules.

“During the personal hearing with the regulator, Cardif confirmed that prior approval was not sought as their legal counsel advised them that prior approval was requi-red by the acquirer and not the transferor. The representatives of Cardif further submitted that on the advice of their counsel, they genuinely believ-ed that prior approval of IRDAI was not required and hence, prior approval was not sought.”

“When the provisions of the Act and Regulations were pointed out to them, they requested IRDAI to condone the unintentional mistake and submitted that in future the same would not be repeated,” said the order.