Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is planning to tie up with Bandhan and United Bank of India (UBI) as bancassurance partners.
Bandhan is Kolkata based entity, granted bank licenses by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last year. It is also the country’s largest micro lender.
LIC look forward to enhance their presence through the distribution networks of these banks. . Bandhan, for instance, plans to open 600 branches at a go and is looking to transform into a bank by September.
Similarly, UBI would sell the LIC products across its branches. The bank was earlier in a tie-up with Tata AIA Life.
LIC has bancassurance tie-ups with 11 public sector banks, and a total of 55 banks, including cooperatives and regional rural banks. The insurer derives about four per cent of its premium from the bank channel.
Statistics of LICs business, through agents & banks
Individual segment coming from individual agents – April to December 2014, Rs. 22,270.94 crore
Banks as corporate agents – April to December 2014, Rs. 683.06 crore
Here, corporate agent-banks comprised the second largest channel with respect to business acquisition, according to LIC’s public disclosures for the period.
While insurance agents are the biggest contributors to the new life insurance business collections of LIC, corporate agents-banks are the second largest with respect to the business generated.
LIC has tie-ups with several public sector banks, such as Allahabad Bank, UCO Bank, Syndicate Bank, and Dena Bank. LIC also had a tie up with Bandhan Financial Services, which, according to LIC’s website, was till February 7, 2015.
