Page 5 - Insurance Times July 2019

General Insurance

6 PE shortlisted to acquire stake in SBI General Insurance
Bajaj Allianz joins hands
Six private equity firms including Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC have been
with Citibank for product
shortlisted to buy a 26% stake in SBI General Insurance
distribution Company Ltd, as per the information from source.
PremjiInvest, Carlyle are ChrysCapital are among the
Bajaj Allianz has entered into a part-
potential buyers for the stake that Insurance Austra-
nership with
lia Group is planning to sell, said two people close to
Citibank to
the development.
expand its
distribution The source informed that the estimated size of the deal around Rs 3,000 crore,
of its insur- which would value SBI General Insurance around Rs 12,000 crore. Goldman
ance prod- Sachs is running the sale process and the deal could be announced within a
ucts, such as couple of weeks, the source further informed.
health, per- One of the sources has stated, "The deal is in the final stages and will be an-
sonal accident, motor, home, and nounced in a couple of weeks, after which they (the stakeholders concerned)
travel, along with commercial line of will go to the insurance regulator for approvals."
insurance such as property, marine,
engineering, to the bank's customers.
ICICI Lombard to bring sachet-size insurance products
Tapan Singhel, MD & CEO, Bajaj
Seeing the success of sachet products in the FMCG sector, ICICI Lombard Gen-
Allianz General Insurance said, "We
eral Insurance is planning to introduce small-ticket insurance products and is
aim to provide insurance solutions
working with e-commerce players, wallet companies, payments and small fi-
customised as per the customer
nance banks for the same. "We are very conscious of the fact that we don't
needs. This strategic partnership want to just push products but create value for the customer," said Sanjeev
with Citibank aims at providing rel- Mantri, Executive Director, ICICI Lombard, adding that the insurer is innovating
evant insurance products, and reach on sachet-size products and is partnering with digital platforms for distribution.
customers through our unique digi-
"E-commerce and wallet companies are a new channel, which none of the in-
tal initiatives."
surance companies had thought of three to four years ago. We have worked
The bank stated that this partner- with wallet companies and do contextual offering to the customer like a short-
ship with the insurance company is circuit cover while paying electricity bill through a wallet," he said. Previously,
built around the strategy to offer the general insurer has joined hands with Paytm to offer about eight products
health and asset protection for their including group personal accident insurance cover, insurance for vector-borne
clients. "Further enriching the client diseases and mobile insurance. It has also tied up with Mobikwik for insurance
experience, BAGIC's digital capabili- of household goods as well as a cyber cover that can be paid on a monthly basis.
ties support servicing and help our
Many insurers have been working on small-ticket insurance products for tar-
clients select relevant policies," com-
geted segments which can be renewed on monthly, quarterly or even daily basis.
menting on the development, This means a lower premium payout for the customer. For example, ICICI
Sharad Mohan, head of retail bank, Lombard's cyber insurance cover on Mobikwik can be availed of digitally through
Citibank said. the app at Rs 99 per month and with a sum insured of Rs 50,000.

The Insurance Times, July 2019 5