“Bancassurance is a sophisticated and demanding model that requires high standards of professionalism and uses the most important qualities of the banking partner and the insurer”, stated Silvia SIRB, CEO, AEGON Asigurari de Viata. “The bank’s commitment to the success of the partnership, at all levels, but above all at top management level, is essential for the success in bancassurance”, she emphasized.
On mature markets, banks draw over 40% of their revenues from insurance-related activities. The percentage is down to about 6.5% in the emerging European markets and almost zero in countries with underdeveloped financial systems. With big differences from country to country, 20 to 80% of the life insurance underwriting is done in the bancassurance system. “The crisis and decrease of lending activity have co-interested banks in obtaining additional revenues through bancassurance partnerships and have brought in the banking environment the willingness to make the necessary effort so that the partnership operates at optimal parameters”, emphasized Silvia SIRB. In order to capitalize on this interest from the banks, TRANSILVANIA Bank in particular, which is its main distribution partner, AEGON Asigurari de Viata has looked for solutions that match the collaboration model to the organizational culture and to the bank’s operation systems, in order not to hinder the banking activity, but increase its efficiency.
“We have been working hard to provide the bank employees the necessary support in order to understand the products, to feel at ease in the relationship with the customer that need to advise. We’ve found out that, given their profession, these bank employees prefer the direct, “one to one” contact with the AEGON specialists who train them. We meet this need by traveling extensively, dedicating a lot of time to building this professional network and the results match our efforts. The mere finding that, after one and a half year of collaboration, the image the bank employees have with regard to insurers, in general, has improved significantly, is a reason of satisfaction”, added Sinziana MAIOREANU, Chief Sales Officer, AEGON Asigurari de Viata.
