KARACHI: Gautam Duggal, Regional Head – Africa, Middle East and Europe – at Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), talked about insurance industry in an interview.
Q: What’s the market share of Standard Chartered in the insurance industry?
A: Standard Chartered is the first player in the banking industry to offer sovereign debt instruments and small ticket general insurance to its clients. We are the market leaders in terms of industry contribution to single premium bancassurance sales as well as the biggest distributor of government bonds in the retail industry in Pakistan.
It is hard to track the entire market for wealth management, given its size and the fact that some banks or firms cater to more mass market clients while others focus on wealthy individuals. As far as the share of the SCB in bancassurance is concerned, we are more than half or 54 percent of the total premium collected by the banking sector.
Similarly, on the government bond business for the retail market we dominate the secondary market. While market stats are not available our estimates show that we hold more than 80 percent share of the market. However, within the funds space our share is only three percent. In funds business, we are considerably selective in our offering. We are expected to add on new category of asset classes which would change the landscape.
Q: How do you see the market?
A: SCB wants to capitalise on driving demand for the wealth management services in Pakistan. The bank is working with the regulators and its providers on a multifold agenda, which can be broadly categorised as opening up of markets and addition of new asset classes to the existing product menu.
The bank has always aspired to be the trend setter and developed differentiated products and services, better suited to client needs.
Q: Can the customers expect innovative insurance products from the bank?
A: To further its agenda of revolutionising the local industry landscape, the bank is likely to introduce higher allocation plans and other competitive general insurance products for its bancassurance clients soon.
We want to deepen the health insurance. We have recently added the ‘Critical Illness Plan’ which provide cover for more than 13 critical illnesses (like cancer, hepatitis C, Alzheimer) and plan to add on more of such products. Within the general insurance category, we are at the brink of offering instant policy issuance as part of our digital offering.
In mutual funds space, the SCB team intends to offer client-centric propositions as variants of frequent payout plans have been launched. With focus on employee banking and to deepen the industry we are working on the regular savings plan for the Islamic and conventional clients alike.
Q: Is wealth management challenging in this region?
A: While the Middle East market is entering a mature stage, we are looking to deepen the various corridors such as Africa, Middle East to promote cross border business. Immense opportunity exists in the Africa market which is opening up, as regulations become more and more friendly. It is a market that is highly receptive to digital solutions and the canvass is open to benefit from first mover advantage.
One of the key challenge across all markets is always to retain and get good talent …customers trust the financial advisors and if they are not with them for long then the customers start doubting the financial institution itself.
