Goa Co-op Bank, Aviva ink bancassurance pact

The Goa State Co-operative Bank has tied up with Aviva Life Insurance for bancassurance, with the objective of increasing its customer service portfolio through a revenue-sharing agreement.

The five popular insurance products that would be made available to the customers include whole life, savings and unit linked insurance policies, among others. Aviva Life Insurance in India is a joint venture between Dabur and Aviva.

The chairman of the Goa State Co-operative Bank, Ramchandra Mule, said that 30 per cent of the premium on the insurance is sold through the bank would form the bank's commission.

"The previous tie-up of the bank with ICICI Prudential did not work out which provided a commission of 10 per cent to the bank on the insurance premium," he said.

Mule said that the insurance company has trained the staff in the 65 branches of the bank to conduct the insurance transactions, and would place its representative in each branch.

He also informed that one development officer each would be made available for north and south district of Goa, who would be in charge of coordinating the insurance work.

Replying to a question, Mule said that the Sarvatra Card scheme launched by the bank two years ago, did not function well and hence had to be terminated. "The bank had to face a loss of Rs 16 lakh due to the failure of this scheme," he pointed out.

He also informed that presently the non performing assets (NPAs) of the bank constitute 28 per cent of its total assets. There is a possibility of bringing the NPAs down to 15 per cent, Mule said.