ICICI Lombard General Insurance has teamed up with seven different financial institutions for bancassurance partnerships. The move is expected to expand its distribution network and make insurance more accessible to customers across the country.

The seven financial institutions are Aye Finance, Bandhan Bank, Karnataka Bank, Muthoot Mini, Nivara Home Finance Pvt Ltd, NSDL Payment Bank and The Andhra Pradesh State Co-operative Bank.

By teaming up with these institutions, which collectively have over 4,000 branches, ICICI Lombard aims to bring more people under the insurance safety net.

“We are thrilled about the opportunities these partnerships bring,” said Anand Singhi, Chief of Retail and Government Business at ICICI Lombard., “By combining our expertise in product customisation and risk assessment with our partners’ reach, we are making insurance more accessible and affordable for all. It’s about creating real impact in people’s lives across India.”

Bancassurance is an insurance distribution model where insurance companies partner with banks to sell policies. Both the bank and the insurance company get to benefit from this arrangement.

While the bank earns a commission from the insurance company, the insurer gains from the distribution network of the bank.

Insurance regulator IRDAI had in 2022 widely thrown open the bancassurance channel for insurers as part of its overall effort to increase insurance penetration in the country and achieve the long-term goal of ‘insurance for all’ by 2047, when the country will celebrate its golden jubilee of independence.

The regulator had paved the way for corporate agents (banks) to have distribution tie up with maximum of nine life insurers, nine general insurers and nine health insurers. Also, insurance marketing firms (IMF) can now enter into tie up with as many as six life, general and health insurers.

ICICI Lombard now collaborates with over 200 + financial institutions spread across Universal Banks, Small Finance Banks, Payment Banks, Corporate Banks, NBFC, HFCS, MFI, Securities and Wealth Management Companies, significantly broadening its bancassurance network.

With 99.3 per cent of policies issued electronically and over 10 million downloads of its mobile app, IL Take Care, the company is embracing a ‘phygital’ approach - blending physical and digital touchpoints to enhance customer experience. 

This customer-centric strategy has contributed to ICICI Lombard’s impressive growth, with bancassurance growing at 20.2 per cent in FY24 and the company achieving a market share of 8.6 per cent. 

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