OREANDA-NEWS. Citibank and Tata AIA Life today announced they are focused on serving the life insurance and wealth management needs of the global Indian community who have a desire for higher coverage through innovative products and an affinity for simple digital delivery. This is a growing base of approximately 18.4 million households1 across 14 cities2 in India that has a large protection gap, estimated at over INR 150 trillion3.

The protection gap compares the life insurance cover and savings consumers have to what they should have. In India, for every INR 100 needed for a family's income protection, only INR 7.4 is currently provided for, leaving a protection gap of 92.6 percent4.

The long-term Bancassurance partnership in India will address this market opportunity to serve the discerning needs of these global Indians by providing a suite of traditional and unit-linked insurance products that offer wealth management, life protection, saving and retirement solutions. The sales process will be enabled through a digital framework that will minimize documentation, remove hidden charges and increase transparency in the buying process.

Naveen Tahilyani, CEO & managing director, Tata AIA Life, said, "This partnership is a reflection of our promise of 'making Good happen' and aims to enhance the value proposition to Citibank's customers. We will offer solutions based on the priorities, needs and circumstances of customers backed by best-in-class technology and service infrastructure. I am confident with our customized products, unique technology support for sales and services, and Citibank's expert relationship managers, we will enhance the customer experience to a new level."

Kartik Kaushik, country business manager, consumer banking, Citibank India, said, "Our extensive experience with consumers indicate they are primarily looking for financial solutions that are not only simple, transparent and innovative, but are delivered flawlessly over the digital highway at a time and place of their convenience. Our partnership with Tata AIA Life aims to fulfil these very unique needs of our customers with a first-of-its-kind tablet application that integrates the online-offline delivery process impeccably."

The tablet application is a paperless, automated sales interaction process that converts the cumbersome process, requiring 30-plus physical signatures per insurance policy, into a simple sign-on process. The solution provides complete need analysis to assess the customer's insurance needs and give product recommendations basis prioritization of one's financial goals and scenario analysis to understand the annualized financial impact. The solution allows for seamless upload of documents to provide an error-free proposition through the digitized platform.

The unified integration of the online-offline sales process provides real-time instant servicing options at Citibank branches, including the provision of tax receipts and fund value statements, along with servicing other frequent requests of customers. The dynamic feed also updates policy values on Citibank customer statements.

Currently, 78 percent of individuals with an annual income ranging from INR1,500,000 to INR12,500,000 has life cover below INR 10 million while 63 percent of individuals with an annual income ranging from INR300,000 to INR1,500,000 has life cover below INR 5 million. Both these segments strongly consider themselves under insured. Furthermore, these consumers are long-term investors with an investment horizon of over 15 years and a focus on investing in family protection, tax saving, marriage planning for one's children and retirement, making insurance products an ideal option, according to a recent Nielsen survey. As per McKinsey, individuals with an annual income ranging from INR300,000 to INR1,500,000 constitutes 16 million households with 37 percent in the top 14 cities, while individuals with an annual income ranging from INR1,500,000 to INR12,500,000 constitute 2.4 million households in India.

This relationship in India is an outcome of AIA Group Limited ("AIA"), one of the two joint venture partners in Tata AIA Life Insurance and, Citibank N.A. ("Citibank") reaching an agreement on an exclusive Bancassurance partnership across 11 markets in the Asia-Pacific region, namely India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, China, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Australia and Korea.