Tata AIG Life Insurance Company has launched training academy – Academy of excellence – for its corporate agents. This allows employees of the corporate agent to earn as they learn, as they are entitled to a stipend by virtue ofbeing an employee of the corporate agency. Tata AIG officials said that corporate agents have been asking for trained staff as there is none available in the market today. While direct agents of insurance companies have to undergo the mandatory IRDA training, there’s no such course in the market place today for employees of corporate agents. Tata AIG’s academy will offer a certified insurance consultant programme, a dedicated on-the-job training for the corporate agency’s employees. This is a one-year course, which pays employees as they get trained, unlike in the case of direct agents who are only entitled to a commission based on the sales. The course fee amounts to Rs.4,900. The AIG training module is widely acknowledged as one of the best in the world, said the company’s CEO Ian Watts in a press statement. In addition to the 100-hour IRDA training, this course also consists of specialised modules like financial planning, business communications, presentation skills, taxation, and business insurance with reference to Indian laws and principles of under-writing.