Frank Kalinzi, Manager Bancassurance at PostBank
PostBank Uganda was recently named among the top 10 banks in non-life bancassurance in the Q1-2021 insurance sector performance report.
PostBank was licensed to transact Bancassurance as an agency for partner insurance companies in the last quarter of 2018 after meeting all the requirements of both regulators – Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) and Bank of Uganda (BOU).
In an interview with Business Focus, Frank Kalinzi, Manager Bancassurance at PostBank, reveals that Bancassurance has contributed significantly to the bank’s non-interest revenue stream.
In the first seven months of 2021, the bank has received Shs605m in form of commission revenue from insurers.
Kalinzi notes that PostBank is partnering with life and non-life insurance companies to sell insurance products to PostBank customers as a proposition to be a one stop shop for all financial services. Non-life insurance companies the bank is partnering with include Britam Insurance Company Limited, NIC General Insurance company Ltd, UAP-Old mutual Uganda Ltd and EXCEL Insurance Company Ltd.
For life insurance companies, PostBank is partnering with Prudential Life Assurance Company, NIC Life Assurance Uganda Ltd, UAP-OLDMUTUAL Life Assurance, CIC Africa Life Uganda Ltd and Jubilee Life Insurance Uganda Ltd.
“PostBank has several products that are sold over the counter on behalf of insurance companies, and these include education products like Somesa plus with UAP-OM and PruEdusave with Prudential,” Kalinzi says.
He adds: “We also have credit life protection insurance, motor comprehensive, fire and burglary insurance for business owners and travel insurance for business customers.”
He says all PostBank customers (account holders) are eligible for the above-mentioned insurance products.
“These insurance products are beneficial in a way that life insurance products provide savings, investment and protection benefits to a customer and in case of death, the customer’s beneficiaries are given the accumulated savings to take care of them in the absence of the bread winner. Non-life insurance policies like motor or fire indemnify the customers in case of damage or loss caused by any unforeseen eventualities,” Kalinzi says.
Asked on the enabling factors that have seen PostBank named among the top 10 banks in both non-life and life bancassurance, Kalinzi revealed that the bank’s management support has played a big role.
“Top management has Bancassurance as a key product to contribute to non-interest revenue and at the same time managing credit risks through insurance,” he says, adding: “The clientele base of PostBank has given us a big pipeline to cross-sell insurance to bank customers.”
Favorable regulatory environment from the Insurance Regulatory Authority of Uganda that has consistently provided support to our operations and spread the message of insurance to the wider population.
Given the current economic hardships brought about Covid-19, Kalinzi was asked whether the public should expect a product to specially address the challenge at hand.
“Yes, we are working with an insurer to have a business guard insurance product that will take care of risks of SMEs that need to be protected in this fragile business environment due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Kalinzi revealed.
On the requirements for accessing Bancassurance with PostBank, Kalinzi says, the bank has a fully-fledged team to serve and support a customer who needs an insurance product or claims to be handled.
“Bancassurance is only sold to pre-existing PostBank customers. Upon request on a desired premium, a customer fills in proposal forms which are then sent to our partner insurance companies. (This with an attachment of proof of payment for premium). The Insurance Company then issues a policy contract with confirmation of receipt of payment of the premium; indicating that a customer is readily insured! For non-customers, the first step is to open a bank account with PostBank and thereafter follow the above-mentioned procedures to get preferred Bancassurance policies,” he says.
