ING employees to assit bank sales staff

Chief bancassurance officer Poolap Penkitti said banks had many products to sell aside from insurance, and bank staff could not follow up on the results of all of ING’s products. Therefore, ING has decided that having its own sales support at bank branches is essential to ensure consistent income from premiums.
At present, TMB Bank is the bancassurance channel of ING Life Limited, the active sales insurance by bank is 65 per cent or 2.5 policies per month.
Poolap said that to boost sales, the firm will focus on new products, operating procedures and putting sales staff in place to support bankers.
ING projects sales via bancassurance should be 80-85 per cent or 3-4 policies per months.
“We have to co-develop insurance products with TMB Bank to make them easier to sell. ING sales staff at bank branches must work closely with bankers,” he said.
The strong relationship with bank staff will keep insurance products at the top of their minds, he said.
Since TMB Bank became a strategic partner of ING Life in 2008, first-year premiums have gradually increased from Bt500 million in 2008 to Bt930 million in 2009, Bt1.18 billion in 2010 and Bt1.2 billion last year.
The company this year targets growth in bancassurance business of 18 per cent, Poolap said. He added that growth in premiums this year would be driven by credit to small and medium-sized enterprises and mortgage customers, as TMB Bank pushes customers to buy insurance policies along with loans.
Life insurance linked with lending to SMEs is projected to grow significantly, with premiums from SME credit-life-insurance policies expected to reach Bt500 million, and from mortgage-reducing term assurance (MRTA) Bt300 million.
Credit life insurance is a policy designed to pay off a borrower’s debt if that borrower dies.
Premiums for ordinary life insurance are expected to reach Bt1.4 billion. Overall new business this year would be Bt2.2 billion.
The company is developing e-underwriting for MRTA and upgrading the approval system for SME credit life insurance at bank branches. The quick approval at bank branches is expected to help support the premiums of bank staff, Poolap said.
The proportion of premiums from bancassurance is 50 per cent. The firm targets a proportion of 50-60 per cent, he said.