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What is Bancassurance? Benefits and Disadvantage

Bancassurance is a relationship between a bank and an insurance company whose purpose is to offer insurance products or insurance benefits to the bank's customers.
authorImagePriyanka Dahima27 May, 2024
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What is Bancassurance

What is Bancassurance: Bancassurance is an agreement between a bank and an insurance company that allows the insurance company to sell its products to the bank's customer base. This partnership arrangement can be beneficial for both companies. Banks earn additional income from the sale of insurance products, and insurance companies expand their customer base without increasing sales.

What is Bancassurance?

Bancassurance contracts are common in Europe, where the practice has a long history. European banks such as Crédit Agricole (France), ABN AMRO (Netherlands), BNP Paribas (France) and ING (Netherlands) dominate the global bancassurance market. An insurance company has the advantage of selling its products to a wider customer base without brokerage fees, which helps to increase the company's sales, giving such companies a greater market presence. The bank, on the other hand, earns additional income from the sale of the insurance products of the related insurance company. The main role of the bank in the arrangement of bancassurance is to act as an intermediary in the sale of the insurance product of the insurance company and to help the company reach a wide customer base and improve its market coverage.

Bancassurance in India

Let's start with a quick overview of the insurance industry in India. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) proposed to regulate the registration of insurance companies in India. Therefore, the Government of India issued a notification stating that insurance is a permitted business under Section 6(1)(o) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 which banks can carry on. It was further clarified that any bank intending to start such activities should seek prior special permission from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Therefore, all commercial banks are allowed to carry out insurance activities on behalf of the insurance company without the risk component on a fee basis. Thus, the banking and insurance sector in India is covered by both IRDA and RBI regulations.

Benefits of Bancassurance

In recent years, Bancassurance has become a very important channel for the marketing of insurance products and services for both banks and insurance companies. A well-planned and structured partnership benefits all parties - both banks, insurance companies and customers. The benefits of bancassurance for banks, insurers and customers are as follows:

For Banks

  • Bancassurance is the best way to provide banks with a source of income with little or no investment. A small capital investment, on the other hand, leads to a high return on equity.
  • Addition to product range
  • Easy source of additional fee income
  • Better work efficiency - because existing bank employees are easy to train
  • Ability to align advanced product sales in a customized way and support services
  • Sell widely. range of financial services to customers and increase customer retention
  • Optimize manpower to improve productivity

For Insurance Companies

  • Revenue growth
  • Increased penetration in both rural and urban markets using the bank's existing customer database
  • Very cost effective because the banks have already defined the route and network
  • Insurance companies can take advantage of the current existing rural and/or urban branches and offices of the banks.

For customers

  • The goal is to provide uniform service to all customers. Nowadays, ease of use is one of the most important concerns in managing the daily activities of the customer. Thus, a bank that markets insurance products offers them a competitive advantage over others. Clients have the opportunity to receive a complete financial planning service under one roof.
  • Increases trust at a high level
  • Claiming is very easy
  • Easy premium payment because it can be linked directly to the bank account
  • Easy access to countless products in the bank
  • Secure services and advice from the bank as customers get professional experts and trained employees who guide them in the economy.

Disadvantage of Bancassurance

  • Banks and/or insurance companies may further compromise the customer's security
  • Customers may be confused about where to invest if there is a conflict of interest between the bank and the insurance company's other
  • products, such as cash-back policies.
  • It is desirable that banks provide better approaches and services to customers. This is because many banks in India do not provide good customer service. The opposite can also happen because banks are also responsible for the sale of insurance products.

What is Bancassurance FAQs

Q1. What is Bancassurance?

Ans. Bancassurance is a relationship between a bank and an insurance company whose purpose is to offer insurance products or insurance benefits to the bank's customers.

Q2. How regulates the Bancassurance in India?

Ans. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) proposed to regulate the registration of insurance companies in India. Therefore, the Government of India issued a notification stating that insurance is a permitted business under Section 6(1)(o) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 which banks can carry on.

Q3. What are the Disadvantages of Bancassurance?

Ans. Banks and/or insurance companies may further compromise the customer's security Customers may be confused about where to invest if there is a conflict of interest between the bank and the insurance company's other products, such as cash-back policies. It is desirable that banks provide better approaches and services to customers. This is because many banks in India do not provide good customer service. The opposite can also happen, because banks are also responsible for the sale of insurance products.

Q4. Which are the parties involved in bancassurance?

Ans. The parties involved in bancassurance include a bank, an insurance company, and the customers.
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