IndiaFirst Life Insurance, our joint venture in India in which we own a 26% stake, was given a licence to trade by the Indian Regulatory and Development Authority in 2009. The company initially launched with three products; IndiaFirst Savings Plan, IndiaFirst Education Plan and IndiaFirst Future Plan, a pension product. Plans to expand the product offering are well developed and include further individual and group protection policies.
Legal & General Gulf and Takaful companies have been authorised by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) to sell a mixture of unit linked savings plans and pure protection products. Legal & General Gulf is the parent company with Gulf Takaful as a 100% subsidiary. Both companies have their head offices in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Ahli United Bank, our partner in the Gulf, is the third largest bank in Bahrain with one of the most extensive networks in the Gulf Co-operation Council, offering a multi-national presence in this area. Products released at launch included Regular Savings, Flexible Savings, and Wedding, Education, Retirement, and Family Protection plans. All of the products are Sharia compliant and have been approved by the company’s Sharia Board, prior to receiving regulatory approval.
Both of these new ventures represent exciting opportunities to combine our considerable insurance experience and proven bancassurance capabilities with the exclusive distribution and brand recognition of our banking partners. The new ventures will enable the development of customer centric insurance operations delivering value over the medium term for both the distributor and insurer. These represent a very attractive alternative to the high cost agency distribution model which is prevalent in the emerging markets.
INDIAFIRST CASE STUDY
In November our Indian joint venture, IndiaFirst Life Insurance, was launched with two of the country’s strongest public sector banks, Bank of Baroda and Andhra Bank. This has given IndiaFirst instant national bank branch coverage of the world’s second largest population and access to a growing affluent middle class.
Legal & General worked closely with its partners, and IndiaFirst was set up as a ‘Greenfield’ insurance operation in record time, recruiting and training over 800 sales persons and managers as well as training and licensing bank branch employees.
The initial response has been very strong with over 45,000 policies, primarily regular premium savings, being issued in the first four months of trading through over 3,000 activated branches.
“Indiafirst life insurance, through its avowed value of putting the customer first, is well on course to achieving the vision and aspirations of its promoting organisations of being india’s most preferred life insurance provider.”
M D Mallaya
Chairman and Managing Director
Bank of Baroda
Mumbai, India
22 March 2010
