PARTNERS AT THE LAST MILE: RETAILERS, BANKING AGENTS, AND INSURANCE COMPANIES

PARTNERS AT THE LASTMILE: RETAILERS,

BANKING AGENTS, ANDINSURANCE COMPANIES

Summary of the Last Lecture

• Instore Banking, banking Agents, Retailers become bankers, variations

Overcoming the Core Challenges

• Given the triple win nature of the banking agent proposition, there is an enormous opportunity not only for financial institutions and retailers, but also for auxiliary businesses

Overcoming the Core Challenges

• such as POS suppliers, technology designers, agent managers, or market research firms to assist in design, implementation, and ongoing support, provided key challenges are addressed.

Technology.

• Specialized technology is needed to equip banking agents: computer, printer, scanner, POS devices, and communication devices such as a fax or modem.

Technology.

• For models in which the financial institution’s and retailer’s systems need to communicate, selecting the right technology interface and ensuring quality data synchronization are perhaps the trickiest issues to resolve.

Technology.

• The latter, in particular, usually hinges on a robust core banking platform that may not always be present, particularly in smaller scale financial institutions.

Marketing.

• It is still unclear what type of clients will prefer using banking agents and how they feel about interacting with a retailer rather than a banker.

Marketing.

• Will they trust the retailer with their banking transactions? Financial literacy programs devoted to building trust and informing clients on safe use of credit and debit cards may help.

Marketing.

• Market research and segmentation are needed so that both the financial institution and retailers can make informed decisions about where to open banking agents (versus branches or ATMs) and what products to offer.

Marketing.

• Branding is a concern, particularly when the financial institution leverages the retailer’s employees.

Marketing.

• Lemon Bank, a completely branchless bank that offers mainly bill payments in Brazil through a network of over 6,500 locations, has low brand recognition, owing to the restrictions placed by the regulators on brand prominence when using agents.

Marketing.

• This may limit higher margin cross-sell opportunities for Lemon Bank in credit and especially savings, where brand confidence is essential.

Agent Network

• Managing a network of retail agents is a significant undertaking for any financial institution, whether the agents are employees of a single chain or a series of small, independently owned stores.

Agent Network

• Agents, who may see provision of banking services as their second or even third priority, must provide adequate customer service, and problem-resolution mechanisms must provide back-up support.

Agent Network

• Training manuals and incentive programs for agents are essential, as are customer satisfaction metrics. Financial institutions also need to provide their own direct link to customers, preferably through a call center, to handle questions, disputes, or complaints.

Agent Network

• In response to the complexity of developing and managing many agents, network agent managers have emerged. These managers simplify the task for banks, but reduce its revenue stream.

Agent Network

• Network managers identify agents, supply them with the necessary equipment and training, and “own” the relationship with them. Most of these are in Brazil, such as Netcash and Pague Facil, though they are starting to emerge in other countries, too.

Insurance Companies Face the Channels Challenge

• Finding cost-effective distribution channels is also at the heart of insurance for the BOP market. Insurers look for aggregations where groups of clients can be insured at once, especially in the BOP market where premiums must be small.


• They turn to churches, labor unions, schools, and employers—any form of association with a stable, predictable membership. One of the most used channels involves sales through the existing customer relationships of other businesses.


• The ideal distributor will handle money and process transactions. For this, the distributor must be financially sound and have strong IT systems.


• The distributors look to insurance to enhance customer loyalty as well as for the commissions it provides.


• Microfinance institutions have become a favored entry point for insurers trying to reach BOP clients who have few other contacts with large, well-organized institutions.

Direct Sales

• The simplest but not necessarily best channel for insurance is direct sales through the insurer’s own network.

Direct Sales

• Birla Sun Life Insurance, a joint venture between Canadian insurer Sun Life and Indian insurer Aditya Birla, has been providing term life insurance in rural India since 2001, using a very simple and traditional approach based on direct sales through its branch offices.

Direct Sales

• In order to cut costs so premiums are affordable, Birla stripped down documentation requirements and eliminated medical exclusions.

Direct Sales

• The result is a simple policy with limited payouts; the maximum is about $130, about one-third the per capita income of rural India.

Direct Sales

• It is highly doubtful whether Birla would grow this product if not for regulations requiring it to devote a small percentage of its total business to the poor and disadvantaged.

The Partner-Agent Model

• A more cost effective way to bring insurance to low-income people is a piggybacking model.


• American International Group was among the first to develop this approach, in Uganda. With more than 20 years in Uganda, AIG dominated the mainstream insurance market in the country.


• In 1996, FINCA Uganda, one of several large MFIs, asked AIG to create a partnership. Together, the partners designed group life insurance and accident policies that covered clients and their families in case of death, disability, or hospitalization.


• FINCA loan officers distributed insurance certificates, collected premiums (folded into loan repayments), and helped process claims in the course of their weekly rounds to borrower groups.


• Because coverage was mandatory for all borrowers, there were no costly individual negotiations or sales, and no problem of adverse selection (in which only the riskiest people choose to buy insurance), which is especially important in a country with a high HIV infection rate.


• Based on the success of the two-year pilot, AIG refined the product and expanded it to other microfinance institutions and other countries in the region, finding ways to reduce premiums over time.


• AIG’s ability to rely on a trusted MFI partner was critical to profitable entry into the low-income market.


• By 2003, microinsurance generated 17 percent of AIG Uganda’s overall profits, and MFIs earned significant income by charging small fees for administration.


• By 2005, AIG’s product covered about• 1.6 million people through 26 MFIs in

Tanzania, Malawi, and Uganda.


• AIG’s work with FINCA helped create demand, in effect developing a new market. FINCA’s clients, most of whom had no experience with insurance, told their friends about the coverage,


• and over the next several years clients of other MFIs began demanding insurance, too. Eventually, nearly all MFIs in Uganda tied up with insurance companies.


• The model AIG created in Uganda is now widely applied by insurers using microfinance institutions as distribution channels.


• Compartamos Banco in Mexico, for example, is a conduit for Banamex Seguros insurance. In one program twist, Compartamos combines mandatory basic life insurance coverage with voluntary additional coverage available on demand.

In the next Lecture

• The Microagent Model: Barefoot Agents

Summary

• Insurance Companies Face the Channels Challenge

• Direct Sales• The Partner-Agent Model

Documents

PARTNERS AT THE LAST MILE: RETAILERS, BANKING AGENTS, AND INSURANCE COMPANIES