Bancassurance has emerged as a critical distribution channel in Asia, especially in emerging economies where riding on the bank partnership is propelling growth in value of new business.
The good results reported by Aviva, Allianz and Great Eastern recently have given much credit to the bancassurance channel in various markets.
Bancassurance deals
Vietnam in particular saw a boom of bancassurance deals in the past year valued in billions of dollars, with competition in the sector heating up. Some examples are FWD Vietnam and Nam A Bank’s 15-year bancassurance partnership, Manulife’s long-term deal with Techcombank, AIA Vietnam and HSBC Vietnam and Aviva Vietnam with VietinBank. In the Philippines, Robinsons Bank will offer its clients products from Pru Life UK.
In Thailand, AIA reached a 15-year bancassurance partnership with Bangkok Bank in October 2017, while Siam Commercial Bank and Prudential inked a unit-linked product deal aimed at the wealthy. Even in mature markets, bancassurance is thriving. Chubb has a 15-year non-life distribution agreement with Singapore’s DBS bank, Southeast Asia’s largest banking group, while ICBC (Asia), the Hong Kong arm of China’s largest lender, has recently reached an agreement with FWD Hong Kong on comprehensive life insurance products and services.
Blockchain enabled project
Banks have also ventured into alternative sales channels like digital distribution, providing more opportunities for insurers. In the developed markets, bancassurance alliances have also seen innovation.
China Construction Bank Asia (CCB Asia) and IBM having developed the first blockchain enabled bancassurance project in Hong Kong last September. This has enabled a shared view of required policy data in real-time, reducing the need for status checks. AIA Hong Kong followed with the debut of a blockchain bancassurance solution in November.
Be it the basics or blockchain, Asia Insurance Review’s 19th Asia Conference on Bancassurance and Alternative Distribution Channels is the key event for banks, insurers, InsurTechs, and distribution partners to connect and explore innovative strategies to help bancassurance triumph further than ever before.
The two-day conference, with the theme of “Bancassurance in the World of Analytics, AI, Automation, FinTech & Digital Banking – Connected for Exponential Growth” will be held in Manila on 10-11 May, immediately after the East Asian Insurance Congress (EAIC) in the same city.