02-03-2013, 09:59 AM
Bancassurance in India
Bancassurance in India.docx (Size: 16.15 KB / Downloads: 21)
INTRODUCTION
Bancassurance - a term coined by combining the two wordsbank and insurance (in French) - connotes distribution of insurance products through banking channels. Bancassurance encompasses terms such as ‘Allfinanz’ (in German), ‘IntegratedFinancial Services’ and ‘Assurebanking’. This concept gained currency in the growing global insurance industry and its search for new channels of distribution. Banks, with their geographical spread and penetration in terms of customer reach of all segments, have emerged as viable sources for the distribution of insurance products. Presently, there’s more activity here than anywhere else. And everyone wants to jump onto the bandwagon for a piece of the action cake.
There was a time in the past when insurance policies were meant for a small part of public who were financially strong. Today the scenario has completely changed wherein insurance policies reach every person in almost every corner of our nation. This change in the financial horizon was ushered in with the birth of bancassurance in India. Banks which were meant for deposits, loans and transactions are allowed to provide insurance policies to people and this feature of bank is called ‘bancassurance’. However to understand how this takes place one would have to continue reading this article.
Bancassurance has grown at different places and taken shapes and forms in different countries depending upon demography, economic and legislative prescriptions in that country. It is most successful in Europe, especially in France, from where it started,Italy, Belgium and Luxembourg. The concept of bancassurance is relatively new in the USA. As mentioned above bancassurance growth differs due to various reasons in different countries. The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 prevented the banks of the USA from entering into alliance with different financial services providers, thereby putting a barrier on bancassurance. As a result of this life insurance was primarily sold through individual agents, who focused on wealthier individuals, leading to a majority of the American middle class households being under-insured. With the US Government repealing the Act in 1999, the concept of bancassurance started gaining grounds in the USA also. Coming to Asia, it has been estimated that bancassurance would contribute almost 16% of the life premium in the Asian markets in the year 2006 primarily due to the growth expected in India and China.
Need for bancassurance in India:-
Researches and present day statistics speak about the need of a well equipped financial structure for a country that helps it to grow economically. The financial resources in the hands of people should be channelized in effective manner so as to increase the returns from the basic financial structure of nation and also the quality of living of people. Insurance policies are instruments/products that play major role in upholding the financial structure of developed countries. Though the teething phase of insurance, one may say is just past, a desirable foothold is yet to be found. With growth in number of middle class families in the country, RBI recognized the need of an effective method to make insurance policies reach people of all economic classes in every corner of the nation. Implementing bancassurance in India is one such development that took place towards the cause. The need and subsequent development of bancassurance in India began for the following reasons:To improve the channels through which insurance policies are sold/marketed so as to make them reach the hands of common man.To widen the area of working of banking sector having a network that is spread widely in every part of the nation.To improve the services of insurance by creating a competitive atmosphere among private insurance companies in the market.
Benefits of Bancassurance:-
It encourages customers of banks to purchase insurance policies and further helps in building better relationship with the bank. The people who are unaware of and/or are not in reach of insurance policies can be benefitted through widely distributed banking networks and better marketing channels of banks. Increase in number of providers means increase in competition and hence people can expect better premium rates and better services from bancassurance as compared to traditional insurance companies.
Demerits of Bancassurance:-
Data management of an individual customer’s identity and contact details may result in the insurance company utilizing the details to market their products, thus compromising on data security. There is a possibility of conflict of interest between the other products of bank and insurance policies (like money back policy). This could confuse the customer regarding where he has to invest. Better approach and services provided by banks to customer is a hope rather than a fact. This is because many banks in India are known for their bad customer service and this fact turns worse when they are responsible to sell insurance products. Work nature to market insurance products require submissive attitude, which is a point that has to be worked on by many banks in India.