She was here to attend the sixth board meeting of Max New York Life held last week. Expressing satisfaction at the progress made by the Indian company, she says life insurance is a long-haul business and her company is willing to wait to realise the 20-per cent returns from the tenth year onwards.

Max New York Life, with over 1,800 agents, has sold policies totalling a sum assured of Rs 1,500 crore. Operating out of nine offices, the company has 400 employees. While officials are cagey about the premium figures, Max New York Life ranks No 1 among private life insurers in terms of the total sum assured or the total risk the company has underwritten.

About New York Life Internationals other Indian plans, Valko says the company will invest $100 million in infrastructure projects here, though the finer details are yet to be worked out. This is a part of the companys Asian plans; we are also investing in China.

The company has four representative offices in Mainland China. Unlike India, China is yet to open up its insurance sector for foreign investments at one go. The country is opening up the market in a calibrated manner, and several American insurance companies are queuing up to have a presence felt there. We hope to start our operations in China by this yearend, she says. Similarly, her company also hopes to get a licence in Vietnam soon.

Ranked first in America on the basis of first-year premium, that is around $1.2 billion, New York Life Insurance/New York Life International has joint ventures partners in Indonesia, Hong Kong, Thailand and has standalone operations in Taiwan, South Korea and the Philippines. The 157-year-old New York Life Insurance still remains a mutual company when most insurers are demutalising their operations in favour of a joint-stock corporate structure. Why?

It makes better business sense for us to remain as a mutual company. Companies demutualise in order to access fresh funds. We have enough capital to meet all our business needs, including expansions. Similarly, all our products are mutual company-specific and we dont sell any participatory products, says Valko.

Ranked 87th among Fortune 100 companies, New York Life Insurance manages over $173-billion assets, has an annual revenue of $13 billion and is given the top rating by agencies like Standard & Poors (AA+), AM Best (A++), Moodys (Aa1) and Fitch (AAA).

Speaking about the 9/11 incidents in the US and its impact on New York Life Insurance, she says the company, though affected, was not greatly mauled. Contrary to popular belief, American life insurers were not badly affected, as the final death toll was less than 3,000 - WTC and Pentagon buildings put together.

We were affected to some extent since we had sold many annuity and whole-life products to many who have lost their lives in the WTC collapse, she says. But the companys net liability after reinsurance claims is less than $20 million; the gross liability is around $80 million. And New York Life Insurances average annual claims payout is around $1 billion.

It was surprising to note that many women who died in the terrorist attacks didnt have an insurance policy, she says. But, the aftermath has seen many people purchasing life policies. Incidentally, last year, New York Life recorded a 28-per cent business growth when the US life insurance industry grew by a mere 8 per cent.