Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company garnered Rs 171.1 crore in March, closing fiscal 2009-10 with Rs 861.3 crore in gross written premiums, recording a growth of 189 per cent over FY 2008-09. The life insurance entity’s business in terms of gross written premiums stood at Rs 1,160 crore since launch in June 2008. The company has underwritten 135,585 policies since inception.
Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance is a joint venture between Canara Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce, and HSBC Insurance (Asia Pacific) Holdings Limited.
Commenting on the growth of the company, chief executive officer Harpal Karlcut said that "achievement is the result of the commitment of our shareholders and employees in positioning the Company as a strong private life insurance player in a tumultuous yet competitive 2009."
Operating a pure bancassurance model, Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance has exclusive access to the customer bases of both the public sector banks. This comprises more than 48 million customers and a pan-India network of over 4,400 branches. Currently, the company’s products are available through around 900 branches of the three banks.
"We are confident that our strong distribution model, research-based products and customer centric initiatives will enable us to achieve our goal of taking life insurance to a large section of the society and help us evolve as one of the top insurance players in the market,” said Karlcut.
Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance’s assets under management stood at Rs 1,170 crore as on March 31, 2010. In order to meet its expansion plans, the shareholders have plans for further capital infusion of Rs 300 crore in FY 2010-11. This will take the total capital base from Rs 625 crore to Rs 925 crore.