A presentation on financial services distribution models (with an emphasis on Bancassurance and Life Insurance) that I gave a little while ago in Thailand. I\'m happy to discuss if any one is interested.
3. ..But companies are often slow to adapt What’s intriguing is the ‘internal focus’ and the low importance attached to channel strategy US Snr banking exec survey Source - LIMRA
24. Checklist for a Bancassurance branch Q: Can we identify what a ‘good’ Bancassurance branch looks like? To answer the question we undertook a mystery shopper survey of 50 branches and completed a questionnaire about the experience 6 main issues 10 Sub-Issues 1. Entry experience 1.1 position of insurance advisors 2. sales 2.1 Lead Generation 2.2 Sales Person 2.3 Product 2.4 Handling objections 3. Marketing 3.1 Promotional Activity 3.2 Marketing Materials 4. Service 4.1 Service Quality 5. Systems 5.1 Sales System 6. Others 6.1 Customer Contact
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26. Branch Checklist Good branch if ‘yes >5 Poor branch if ‘no’ greater >4 Main Does the target branch match the following description Yes Avg No 1. Entry experience Position of insurance advisors is easy to identify and an inviting and clear procedure is in place to hand clients to them 2. sales Advisors are skilled in identifying insurance needs Advisors are enthusiastic and professional in appearance and conduct Advisors clearly explain product recommendations and how they meet customers needs 2.4 Handling objections 3. Marketing Promotional activity is clearly displayed and advisors are aware of bank promotional programmes as they occur Marketing material are clearly displayed and actively used by advisors 4. Service Branch provides a comfortable ‘financial services’ environment, all services are easily accessible and fit out is modern and professional 5. Systems Advisors have CRM, Presentation and quotation systems to present financial services products 6. Others Sellers ensure to obtain consent for next appointment and have a procedure in place to ask for referrals
The third key factor driving the performance of the Bancassurance channel is the extent to which operational integration is possible. For example in the US; operational integration was not possible till very recently; because of the Glass Steagall Act which created barriers between banks and insurance companies. The data on the slide is room a 2002 JP Morgan report which survey Bancassurance partnerships in Europe. Of the 18 partnerships surveyed in 8 countries – and using the number of policies per agent per annum – as the benchmark, it is clear that integrated Bancassurance relationships lead to higher productivity. The low integration model involves a sales process where the bank serves more as a lead generator with the agents of the insurance company being responsible for closing the sale. A close parallel to this in the Indian market is the referral based relationships of ICICI Prudential. Among the companies surveyed, all the insurance partners had a multi channel strategy and relatively low levels of orientation towards the banking partner. Partial integration is a hybrid strategy. There are two parallel sales approaches mirrored by a two pronged product strategy. The sales approaches involve bank agents generate and close sales linked to simplified issue products with insurance company agents closing the sales of fully underwritten agency-type products. In both cases the bank is still responsible for lead generation. In the fully integrated model; the insurance company provides backstage support to the sales process; but is NOT involved in any part of the customer-facing sale. In most of the companies surveyed, the bank ’ s agents had been targeted as being the initial customers – via a discounted pricing policy. This served two purposes: one) it gave the life insurance company the opportunity to streamline its operational processing including medical uw and policy conversion and two) it gave the agents the chance to go through the buying experience and ensured that they were able to manage customer expectations in the future. Because they were convinced about the product and the process, this created a “ multiplier ” effect with the agents being able to empathise with customers as well as provide references to their own buying experience.