AIA Forms Bancassurance Partnership With ICBC in China

American International Assurance Co. Ltd. said it aims to expand its market presence in China by forming a long-term strategic bancassurance partnership with Beijing-based Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. prior to AIA's Hong Kong public listing by the end of this year.

AIA, the Asian life operations of American International Group Inc., will work with ICBC to build a bancassurance platform to "further strengthen its business developments in China and provide innovative products and services to meet the protection and savings needs of the people of China," Mark Tucker, AIA Group executive chairman and chief executive-designate, said in a statement.

According to the agreement, both financial institutions will cooperate in areas of sales and marketing system, product innovation, service quality, technological advancement and sustainable profitability, Tucker said.

The insurer said bancassurance is an "integral" part of its multichannel distribution strategy. It will also develop direct marketing, telemarketing and wealth protection planning through this platform on top of growing its agency force.

AIA said it will work with ICBC -- which claims to be the world's largest listed bank by market capitalization, deposit volume and profitability -- to further develop banking businesses including bank deposits, asset management, cash management, investment banking, e-banking, credit cards, customer services, fund-raising, credit lending and staff training.

AIG is looking to spin off AIA through a Hong Kong listing following the collapse of a $35.5 billion sale of its main Asia unit to the United Kingdom's Prudential plc (BestWire, June 7, 2010).

In March 2010, American International Assurance Co. (Bermuda) Ltd., or AIA Hong Kong, signed a bancassurance cooperation agreement to jointly offer its insurance products to the customers of China Construction Bank (Asia) Corp. Ltd. through the lender's 36 branches and three premier select centers in Hong Kong.

The agreement with CCB (Asia) is "the first major bancassurance collaboration for AIA in Hong Kong," Chris Wei, AIA Group's chief marketing officer and head of bancassurance and direct marketing, said in a statement.

The insurer has "significant" experience with a range of bancassurance models across its Asian markets, Wei added.

AIA Group said it has approximately 320,000 agents and 23,500 employees across 15 geographical branches in Asia, with more than 23 million in-force policies in the region.

(By Rebecca Ng, Hong Kong news editor: [email protected])