Insurance Through Bank Agents: How Can It Be Done?

MicroSave's Briefing Note 124 describes the product and channel planning strategies for insurance sourcing through bank agents. It highlights the challenges involved in the bank agent channel and suggests methods to adopt the channel for insurance inclusion. The Note states that sourcing insurance through bank agents is becoming increasingly popular. The bank agent channel increases the outreach and potential of the bancassurance channel. This channel presents certain challenges, but providers consider bank agents to be too lucrative an opportunity to ignore. Solutions to these challenges include:

• Having a variable incentive mode for insurers or banks to gain from the bank agent channel;
• Segmenting insurance products based on ease of selling, and complexity of the product;
• Improving bank agent productivity by positioning channels based on level of service, specialization, and training in insurance;
• Making insurance commission a significant part of agents income, to keep them interested in the insurance business;
• Involving agent channels in multiple products, rather than only sourcing microinsurance policies;
• Making the bank agent channel a one-stop solution for clients' financial needs;
• Using bank agents as both sourcing as well as referral points.