ICICI Pru Life, StanChart in bancassurance tie-up

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Ltd (ICICI Pru) has entered into a bancassurance tie-up with Standard Chartered Bank, the largest foreign bank in India in terms of branches.

Under the 15-year agreement, Standard Chartered Bank will distribute ICICI Prudential Life’s life insurance products through its network of 99 branches across 42 cities in India.

The tie-up is part of a larger agreement between Standard Chartered Plc and Prudential Plc to expand the term and geographic scope of their pan-Asian bancassurance partnership.

The new agreement, which began from July 1, covers India (for the first time) and 10 other markets.

“We are excited about this tie-up and see it as a good fit. We have been very keen in India to partner with Standard Chartered Bank.

Not only are they the biggest MNC bank, we actually see them as the best and most respected distribution outfit,” Puneet Nanda, Executive Director, ICICI Pru, told Business Line here.

The tie-up would help ICICI Pru not only penetrate new sets of customers, but enhance the experience of existing customers as well.

A bancassurance is a relationship between a bank and an insurance company whereby the latter uses the bank sales channel to sell insurance products to the bank’s client base.

This tie-up is an extension of long relationship that Standard Chartered Bank had with Prudential in the region, said Vishal Kapoor, Regional Head-Wealth Management, South Asia, Standard Chartered Bank.

Through this relationship, ICICI Pru will get access to nearly two million customers of Standard Chartered Bank in India, he added.

Consequent to this bancassurance agreement at a global level, Standard Chartered Bank has now parted ways with Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance for distribution of latter’s products in Indian market.

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