Bancassurance - the way to go

Much has been said about various channels for Insurance selling in various forums. If the discussions at the Bancassurance summit held recently at Mumbai is to be believed, Bancassurance would be the next big wave that would storm through the industry.

For beginners, Bancassurance is selling of Insurance products, both life and Non life by Banks.

But Why Banks ?

1) Since Banks already have the infrastrucutre - more than 17000 branches across the country for all banks put together
2) Need for additional fee based revenue from selling Insurance Policies
3) Being a "One Stop Shop" for the customer for all their financial needs.
(Above not in any specific order of importance)

What does the Insurance Company get from this though ?

1) Ready customer base with loads of information about their personal selves (thanks to KYC Norms) and financial data based on the transactions done with the bank
2) Ready Financial Advisors who now have another product to sell - Insurance
3) Ability to cross sell products - package them with Banking products (Motor Insurance with Car Loans, Home Insurance with Home Loans etc.)

Open Architecture Regulations & IRDA

Whereas to begin on this it is important and imperative to note the key distinction between the two sets of companies
1) Insurance Companies with a cohesive Banking Partner (SBI, ICICI, HDFC etc.)
2) Insurance Comapnies without a cohesive Banking Partner (Reliance, Max New York etc.)

Like we have seen the first set of insurance companies have a ready infrastructure, ready partner to start the process of selling, the next set has to work hard on building this ground up.

Both Insurance Companies and Banks are waiting in anticipation for the nod from the regulators to move towards open architcture which would essentially mean

a) Ability of Banks to sell products of more than one insurance company - currently banks can sell one Life and one Non Life Insurance Companies products

b) Abilily of Banks to package products from different Insurance Companies and create value for the customer viz. Motor from Company A + Home Insurance from Company B + Life Insurance from Company C

For the above, collaboration between the product managers at both Bank and Insurance Companies side need to come together and rake out an arena of products which are specialized for the segment. The regular retail /commercial products of Insurance Companies cannot be as-is sold through this channel.

Technology would play a major enabler in the process to ensure seamless flow of information from Banks to Insurance Companies and vice versa. With the regulator nod to Banks to deal with multiple manufacturers in anticipation - it is strongly felt that Banks will have to invest into software systems that aid in such communications with multiple manufacturers whereas still maintain a single source of truth within the organization.

The software should be capable of integration with the CBS used by the bank for accessing the customer base already available. Segregation of customers based on their profiles would also help banks to market products relevant to the segment.

Lots of Opportunities - Lots of Hopes : Looking forward to the rise of Bancassurance

Better Late than never

As one definition of Blog in wikepedia says about Personal Blogging :

"The personal blog, an ongoing diary or commentary by an individual, is the traditional, most common blog. Personal bloggers usually take pride in their blog posts, even if their blog is never read. Blogs often become more than a way to just communicate; they become a way to reflect on life, or works of art. Blogging can have a sentimental quality. Few personal blogs rise to fame and the mainstream, but some personal blogs quickly garner an extensive following. One type of personal blog, referred to as a microblog, is extremely detailed and seeks to capture a moment in time. Some sites, such as Twitter, allow bloggers to share thoughts and feelings instantaneously with friends and family, and are much faster than emailing or writing."

My idea of quoting the above from wikepedia and marking a part of it in bold does not in any way signify that I am too sure that no one would read my blog and still I would be proud of it :)

The idea I started on to blogging was that there was so much that I was learning in my day to day life at my new workplace - and I in no way wanted my experience to stay just with myself. The idea was to spread learning and keep learning.

Today technolgoy with its fact pace has an ability to aid you in virtually any activity like Learning. It can exponentially grow the ability of oneself to make available to others to share and learn.

And while I have started to blog.. I am sure there would be more posts on the way not only on the work and professional front but also my experiences in the personal space with friends, families and the environment around.