Bancassurance has room to grow
The bancassurance model, while still relatively undeveloped in Cambodia, has huge potential to drive the growth of the insurance sector, financial industry specialists said during a conference in Phnom Penh on November 2. Robert Elliott, CEO of Manulife, said during a panel discussion that rising incomes in Cambodia were expanding consumer demand for insurance products, while banks offer an ideal platform for the sale of these products. “Cambodia is a country that has been experiencing high GDP growth and so there are more and more people entering the middle class, and in doing that they start to think more long term,” he said. “For the insurer, it is a significant new customer base, and for bank customers, there is increased comfort in purchasing insurance from banks as they generally have a stronger brand trust.” According to Elliott, bancassurance as it is practised in Cambodia involves banks referring interested clients to insurers in exchange for referral fees. This allows customers to gain information on several financial services at once while giving institutions a chance to broaden their activity.
