Edelweiss Tokio Life partners with Fincare Small Finance Bank; to offer savings, protection plans

Private life insurer Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance has tied up with Fincare Small Finance Bank to offer specialised product offerings to the bank customers. In the initial stage, two products will be offered; one being the Point of Sale (POS) product (endowment plan) and another a protection product.

In an interaction with Moneycontrol, Rajeev Yadav, MD & CEO, Fincare Small Finance Bank said being a new SFB they are expanding their product basket. “Customers need protection and we operate at the bottom-of-the-pyramid segment that is not targeted by the other companies. We are looking at customised products designed for these customers and provide them predictable cash flows,” he added.

The insurance company and the SFB will look at the customer segment, their specific needs and offer products that meet their needs. Sumit Rai, MD & CEO, Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance explained this partnership gives them access to a customer base that they haven’t been exposed to in the past.

The aim, through this bancassurance tie-up, is to offer simple products that are easy to buy. Yadav said products like unit-linked insurance plans (Ulips) are difficult for a majority of customers to understand and hence only easy-to-understand small-ticket products will be sold through the bank branches.

Fincare Small Finance Bank has about 500 banking outlets across the country at present. Yadav explained they do a mapping of the product to the branches to ensure appropriate products are sold to the relevant customers. He said they will look at offering individual customers products that meet their specific needs.

The bank is also offering wealth management to customers through products like mutual funds as well as demat account. “If we find that the customer segment is in need of investment-focused products like Ulips, we may look at it in the future,” he added.

For Edelweiss Tokio Life, this will also expand their bancassurance base and sell through Fincare SFB’s branches. Currently, the agency channel followed by the direct channel are the two largest distribution channels for the life insurer. Rai added their endeavour is to add more bancassurance partners in the near future and also expand the direct channel.