Banks, Insurers Are Happier Together
NU Online News Service, June 24, 2008, 4:00 p.m. EDT
Researchers conclude in a new study that life
insurers and banks are working together more smoothly but still need to improve
their product distribution efforts.
The study was commissioned by the American
Council of Life Insurers, Washington, and the American Bankers Insurance
Association, Washington, and conducted by C.F. Effron Company L.L.C., Weston,
Conn. It is a follow-up to studies that the ACLI and the ABIA released in 2005
and 2003.
Participants included 6 of the top 10 banking
institutions selling life insurance and 6 of the top 10 life insurers selling
insurance through banks.
Insurance company executives and bankers who
responded to researchers this time around said that product availability is no
longer a problem and that they are satisfied that they have identified profit
opportunities.
In 2005, both insurance company executives and
bankers had cited product availability and profit as top concerns.
This year, bankers and insurance company
executives said they are thinking about ways to improve the life insurance
application process and to use of technology to increase sales, the Effron
researchers report.
About 67% of life insurance company executives
and 63% of the bank executives said consumers are more aware than they were in
2003 that banks sell life insurance.
But life insurance executives said they want to
see more support from bank senior managers for distribution of life products,
while bankers said they are not satisfied with sales support from insurers for
more complex cases and also think the application process still takes too long.
Banks want to see more standardized products
that target a broader consumer population, so that the products can be sold by
generalists, rather than by specialists.
C F Effron
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