Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) has asked insurance companies to provide details of the commission they paid to banks for selling policies in the last three and a half years. "All insurers are hereby advised to furnish the information ... for the years 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09 and first half year of 2009-10 within 30 days," IRDA said in a circular to all insurers. Insurance companies employ Bancassurance or the bank insurance model (BIM) to reach out to a large number of consumers. Banks earn commissions for offering services of insurance companies through their wide network of branches. IRDA wants to study the impact of payouts made to banks on insurance companies and policyholders, and hence requires the data from 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009 and between 1 April 2009 and 30 June 2009. The regulator has prescribed the format for collecting information on the business generated through Bancassurance model and the payouts to the Bancassurance channel. It has instructed that in future the information in the prescribed formats should be submitted to it on half-yearly basis within 45 days from the end of the half year.