Kenya Commercial Bank and its sister firm National Bank of Kenya have signed a distribution deal with Sanlam Life Insurance to deepen the uptake of life insurance products in the country.
Through KCB's Bancassurance Intermediary Limited (KBIL) and National Bank's Bancassurance Intermediary Limited (NBIL) customers will access a full range of financial and investment products within the banks’ combined branches.
This will see KBIL and NBIL distribute life insurance products, underwritten by Sanlam.
The partners have also rolled out an endowment policy dubbed Nawiri, a savings and investment product that offer a guaranteed return after a specific period of time.
They have also introduced an enhanced education policy—Elimisha Plus Cover—and a funeral insurance cover.
Nawiri comes with a tax relief element while the funeral cover brings a tax-free death benefit upon the demise of a policyholder.
“We are reimagining insurance by leveraging the existing offerings and rethinking the distribution model to ensure we take the products to the uninsured population across the counties and every corner of the country” said the Managing Director at KCB Bank Kenya Annastacia Kimtai.
The proposition is expected to deepen KCB and NBK play in the insurance market, effectively boosting Kenya’s life insurance penetration rate, which currently stands at 1.3 per cent according to the regulator Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA).
Sanlam Kenya Group CEO, Nyamemba Tumbo said that overtime, the bancassurance distribution channel has emerged as the natural choice for mass-market clients looking for simple and low-cost products being offered by financial institutions.
Godfrey Kiptum, Chief Executive Officer at Insurance Regulation Authority lauded the partnership noting that the bancassurance model of distribution has played a critical role in supporting the financial dreams of customers.
The Association of Kenya Insurers in its 2017 study indicated that about Sh6 billion of life business was through bancassurance while that of non-life was estimated at Sh10 billion.
This points to a growing need for the model of distribution to be utilised optimally to unlock greater returns.