scholarly journals Distribution Problems in Private Bank Led life Insurance Firms: A Contrasting Scenario in the Indian Context

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (5S3) ◽  
pp. 317-326
Keyword(s):  
Life Insurance ◽  
Distribution Channel ◽  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
Private Bank ◽  
Private Companies ◽  
Insurance Firms ◽  
The Common ◽  
Online Channel ◽  
Uncertain Distribution ◽  
Industry Trends

Life insurance distribution in India is at an inflection point. Whilst life insurance as a phenomenon continues to be an enigma at best, it is its distribution aspect which seems to have taken the cake. Companies are grappling with the problem of designing an appropriate distribution channel mix. At a time when an industry-wise (private companies sans LIC) marked shift could be seen in favour of bancassurance over agency as a channel of choice, it is interesting that upon deeper analysis an intriguing phenomenon over the last five years has occurred, wherein two leading private bank led life insurance firms, namely HDFC Life and ICICI Prudential – both having the support of big banks (HDFC bank & ICICI bank); one being a non bank-promoted entity (HDFC Life), the other a bank-promoted one (ICICI Prudential) - are selling more through bancassurance - in line with the industry trends - but are either dismal in agency numbers or are at least preserving them or at times, are ahead of the industry agency numbers, even when the common refrain is to go the bancassurance way. In fact, ICICI Prudential is overshooting the industry bancassurance trend and HDFC more or less equals it. The last five years have unfolded marked variations in distribution for both these companies, manifestations of which are different. Equally confounding is the fact that with the direct channel (read online) - showing tremendous potential and growth - poised to make further disruptions, the resultant is an uncertain distribution landscape with no clear pattern in sight. Should these companies dispense with the agency channel? Or should they preserve agency? Or should they look to the direct / online channel. How do they strike a balance when disruptions are bound to happen further? This paper attempts to delineate the distribution patterns of these similar bank led companies and the implications thereof of such patterns

scholarly journals One Problem, Different Manifestation: Distribution Woes At HDFC Life And SBI Life

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3S3) ◽  
pp. 318-326
Keyword(s):  
Life Insurance ◽  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
Life Distribution ◽  
Optimum Distribution ◽  
Group Company ◽  
Channel Conflict ◽  
Channel Strategy ◽  
Transitory Phase ◽  
Online Channel ◽  
Uncertain Distribution

Life insurance distribution in India, like elsewhere, is in a transitory phase. Technological advancements and an untapped market have opened up new vistas in the field. Customer offerings through multiple touch-points seem to be the mantra. While a multi-channel strategy does offer the outreach, there are a number of issues, including, channel conflict, channel cannibalization and channel misalignment, which act as a dampener to such a strategy. The other question is that of finding an optimum distribution mix. We, by virtue of this paper, attempt to delineate the aforesaid, highlighting the manifestation of the same problem of distribution, albeit differently, rather contrastingly - concurrently suggesting the solutions – through two similar bank led (large bank as group company / bank promoted) companies, HDFC Life and SBI Life. Distribution woes have resulted in an uncertain distribution landscape with no clear pattern in sight. Industry numbers show a shrinking agency, a robust bancassurance and a rising online channel. But the pattern is all lopsided in HDFC Life and SBI Life. How to balance the distribution mix, then? Does that mean doing away with the not so hot agency channel? Or does preserving agency still make sense? Or fortifying the banca further is the need of the hour? Or, can the currently hot direct / online channel be pursued vehemently? The implications of such distribution patterns are immense for an industry trying to find a way out of the muddle.

Do the Over-the-Counter Sales at Banks Expand the Individual Annuity Market in Japan?

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hideto Azegami
Keyword(s):  
Life Insurance ◽  
Panel Data Analysis ◽  
Distribution Channel ◽  
Participation Rate ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Insurance Companies ◽  
Over The Counter ◽  
Bank Branches ◽  
Insurance Policies ◽  
Insurance Firms

AbstractThis research investigates the effects of the over-the-counter (OTC) sales at banks on individual annuity markets in Japan. The ban on OTC sales of individual annuities at financial institutions was rescinded in October 2002. Deregulation is considered to have expanded the market because it began growing in FY 2001. Life insurance companies also announced that the sales of insurance policies through banks are affecting their profits. However, statistics on sales results aggregated by distribution channel have not yet been released. Thus, my empirical analysis investigates the relationships between the amount of new contracts for individual annuities provided by insurance firms and several explanatory variables, including the number of bank branches in a region, the Herfindahl index calculated using the amount of individual annuity contracts in force, rate of the elderly, prefectural income, labor force participation rate for older men, amounts outstanding of bank deposits, share of owned homes to total dwellings, amount of life insurance policies in force, and male life expectancy. The results of a panel-data analysis over a 10-year period, and including 47 prefectures and 14 major insurance firms, indicate that the number of bank branches is positively related to the amount of new contracts for several insurance companies.

scholarly journals Co-evolution of Information-Processing Technology and Use: Interaction between the Life Insurance and Tabulating Industries

1993 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
JoAnne Yates
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Information Processing ◽  
Life Insurance ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Processing Technology ◽  
Insurance Firms

Punched-card tabulating equipment, an important commercial predecessor of the computer, was used for processing large amounts of data in many business firms during die first half of the twentieth century. Life insurance was an information-intensive business dependent on firms' abilities to manage large quantities of data. This article examines both the role that tabulating machinery played in shaping insurance firms' business processes and the simultaneous role that Ufe insurance as a user industry played in shaping the development of tabulating technology between 1890 and 1950. The ongoing interaction between the Ufe insurance and tabulating industries shaped both in significant ways, setting the stage for continued interaction between the two industries during the transition to computers beginning at mid-century.

Firm-specific internal determinants of profitability performance: an exploratory study of selected life insurance firms in Asia

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 533-550 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rozaimah Zainudin ◽  
Nurul Shahnaz Ahmad Mahdzan ◽  
Ee Shan Leong
Keyword(s):  
Financial Reporting ◽  
Life Insurance ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Random Effect ◽  
Random Effect Model ◽  
Estimation Model ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Market Expansion ◽  
Insurance Firms

Purpose This study is an exploratory study investigating firm-specific internal factors that influence the profitability performance of selected life insurance firms in eight Asian countries (China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia) from 2008-2014. This paper aims to focus on internal rather than external factors based on the resource-based view suggesting that the internal resources of a firm are key to gaining competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach The authors used panel data estimation model to test our six hypotheses on these eight selected countries for the period between 2008 and 2014. Findings A random effect model reveals that size, volume of capital and underwriting risk are significantly related to the profitability of Asian life insurance firm, measured as return on assets. Premium growth, asset tangibility and liquidity are insignificant predictors of the profitability performance of these life insurance firms. Practical implications Three implications of this study are that life insurance firms need to proactively tap new business opportunities by attracting younger generation customers via e-marketing technologies; secure larger capital base to finance their market expansion strategies; and focus on intangible resources such as goodwill, brand equity and reputation. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature by conducting an exploratory regional-based panel study of Asian life insurance firms to find common factors that contribute towards profitability. The study is conducted on a collective sample of Asian life insurance firms based on the premise that the firms included in the sample engage in cross-border activities and share the same international financial reporting standards. These commonalities allow us to treat the firms jointly in a somewhat similar Asian macroeconomic environment.

Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the National Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Foundation

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. 272-274
Author(s):  
ABRAHAM B. BERGMAN
Keyword(s):  
Medical Care ◽  
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome ◽  
Life Insurance ◽  
Infant Death ◽  
Sudden Infant Death ◽  
Sudden Infant ◽  
Insurance Policy ◽  
Common Thread ◽  
The Common

When 6-month-old Mark Addison Roe of Greenwich, CT, died suddenly and unexpectedly in October 1958, his parents were told that the cause was "acute bronchial pneumonia." In those days, "it" was called by many names, such as suffocation, overlaying, aspiration, or various forms of pneumonia. The common thread was that all of the terms connoted that parents were either directly, or indirectly, by virtue of failing to secure medical care, responsible for the infant's death. Mark's death might have been the end of it were it not for the existence of a life insurance policy that his grandparents had bought at the time of his birth.

A Note on the Asset-Specific Nature of Life Insurance Firms

1997 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 167-176
Author(s):  
Mike Adams
Keyword(s):  
Life Insurance ◽  
Transaction Cost Economics ◽  
Insurance Industry ◽  
Asset Specificity ◽  
Specific Nature ◽  
Life Insurance Industry ◽  
Long Duration ◽  
Insurance Firms ◽  
Physical Assets

The concept of asset specificity is an important feature of the transaction-cost economics literature. This literature predicts that asset specificity – which embraces physical assets, specialist human capital and intangibles such as brands – fosters greater certainty in complicated transactions of long duration. The business of life insurance is a classical example of complex and long-term exchange between the owners and managers of the firm and its customers. This note thus examines the concept of asset specificity and considers its relevance to the life insurance industry. To stimulate further research four hypotheses are put forward.

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