Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Records 82% Growth in FY 2010-11 Through Bancassurance

New Delhi, India, April 22, 2011 --(PR.com)-- Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company Limited – a joint venture between two of India’s largest public sector banks, Canara Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce, and HSBC Insurance (Asia Pacific) Holdings Limited, has recorded 82% growth in FY 2010-11 over the previous fiscal. The Company is also one of the few private players that has posted positive growth in new business in the fiscal. Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company garnered Rs 265 crore in March and closed FY 2010-11 with Rs 1532 crore in gross written premiums. The Company issued over 1,11,000 policies in the fiscal. The Company is now comfortably positioned amongst the top 10 private players in terms of weighted new business premium income in less than 3 years of operations. Focusing exclusively on distributing through its shareholders and their associated companies, the Company’s achievements testify the strength of the bancassurance model in efficiently reaching both urban and rural customers along with the corporate segment of the distributing banks.

Mr. John Holden, Chief Executive Officer, Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company, said, “The Company’s consistent growth is a result of the efficient bancassurance model of distribution, high quality sales leading to the trust of the customers and the commitment of our shareholders and employees in positioning the Company as a strong private life insurance player in the year of significant regulatory changes.”

Mr Holden added, “All products have been designed on the basis of insights gathered through extensive customer research. Impressive support from our shareholder banks, together with simple processes that are well integrated with the distributors, has resulted in the remarkable year-on-year growth for the Company.” Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company is strongly committed to deliver need-based, affordable insurance solutions to the rural population, the social sector and economically weaker sections of the society, especially those who have no or very little access to organized financial services. The Company exceeded the rural and social regulatory minimum required levels of sales for FY 2010-11.

Mr Holden further added, “Through our bancassurance model we have increased our proximity to the rural hinterland. Apart from the rural markets of the three main distributing banks, our tie up with three Rural Regional Banks (RRBs) – Pragathi Gramin Bank in Karnataka, Shreyas Gramin Bank in Uttar Pradesh and South Malabar Gramin Bank in Kerala has resulted in 23% of the total policies issued in FY 2010-11 from rural areas.” Along with the growth in new business, Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company continued to maintain the highest 13-month persistency ratio amongst private players.

Mr Holden added, “One of the key metrics of quality of sales and customer satisfaction is persistency. High persistency is a reflection of the customers’ trust in the Company and satisfaction with its products and services. In the present environment, persistency will play an important role to help the Company grow at a profitable rate and achieve a faster break-even.” In the current fiscal, the Company will continue to focus on expanding its product portfolio to support the customers of distributor banks. In addition, it seeks to retain its market-leading persistency record and will seek to provide further support for the rural and social markets.

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* Gross written premiums are net of service tax
** As per latest IRDA data available up to February 2011
*** As per data available up to December 2010 2