Banks and insurers have been rethinking their Bancassurance strategies. According to McKinsey research, personalization, customer experience, and omnichannel engagement backed by digital processes and analytics, will shape bancassurance growth and drive profitability.
Ben Toh, Group Head Bancassurance, Group Business Banking, UOB shared some interesting views on Bancassurance trends and readiness at the recently concluded ITC Asia in Singapore. Here are a few takeaways:
On Trends
One of the recent trends we’ve seen in the last 18-24 months is that clients are more inclined to use digital banking apps. According to Google, the numbers have jumped to 70% across South East Asia. They prefer this as the first venue of contacting the bank instead of coming into a physical branch.
On Banca Readiness in South East Asia
At the onset of the pandemic, when we were engaging online with our customers, one aspect was the range of products we could go to them with. At that point in time, some of our insurance partners were not yet ready. But fast forward 24 months and we have been able to launch three microsites in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia to offer our SMEs insurance products. Now that is step one. As a next step we want to enable this journey on the digital banking app.
On Sustaining and Strengthening the Bank-Insurer partnership
Three areas where I advocate better collaboration between the bank and insurers: on, it will be a steady one to accommodate our diverse customer profile.
- Better customer data management that allows for better modeling, data profiling, and analysis
- Product innovation. Develop simplified products targeted at a specific sub/segment for better conversion
- A robust customer engagement strategy for bancassurance.
Also read this blog on ‘How Bancassurance can Uplevel Its Gameplan for Growth’ – a compilation of insights from Leading Insurance Experts at InsureTech Connect Asia 2022, the largest gathering of insurance leaders and innovators.
Highlights: Our webinar on Bancassurance with Ben Toh and Rajesh Sabhlok, Managing Director – Asia Pacific, Vymo explores the latest technological trends and how banks and insurers can capitalize on new opportunities in the digital space.
