Capital Taiyo Life Insurance and Myanmar Citizens Bank (MCB) have signed a bancassurance agreement to provide life insurance products in Myanmar.
The agreement brings about the sales, distribution, promotion and marketing of Capital Taiyo Life Insurance's life insurance products to MCB’s customers via the bank’s network of branches, reported The Myanmar Times.
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Yan Paing, CEO of Capital Taiyo Life Insurance, said: “We are confident that starting a new business leveraging our strength will bring both of us new value and we look forward to future development. At the core of this partnership is a goal to increase satisfaction of MCB’s customers by providing our products and services meeting customer needs for insurance products. Through this new cooperation, we hope to significantly increase our market presence in Myanmar.”
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Mr Godfrey Swain, MCB CEO, said, “The MOU signed with Capital Taiyo Life Insurance will kick off a nine-month pilot project where Myanmar Citizens Bank will conduct sales of life insurance. The government’s directive allows banks to enter into partnership with two life insurance companies per bank, and Myanmar Citizens Bank selected Capital Taiyo Life Insurance as one of its partners.”
Earlier this year, the Insurance Business Regulatory Board (IBRB) under the Ministry of Planning, Finance, and Industry issued a directive allowing banks and microfinance institutions to operate as agents selling insurance products.
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Capital Taiyo Life Insurance is a joint venture between Capital Life Insurance, a domestic life insurance company established in 2013, and Taiyo Life Insurance, one of the largest life insurers in Japan.
MCB which was established in 1992 and is listed on the Yangon Stock Exchange is one of the first private commercial banks in the country and has nearly 50 branches covering 26 towns in the country.
Five foreign insurers and half a dozen joint ventures were granted licences by the Financial Regulatory Department on 28 November 2019 to operate in the Myanmar market. The approval marked Myanmar’s first licences to foreign fully-owned life insurers.
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