Siam Commercial Bank, Prudential Thailand announce bancassurance partnership

Siam Commercial Bank Public Company Limited (SCB), a leading bank in Thailand, and Prudential Life Assurance (Thailand), a subsidiary of UK-based Prudential plc, have agreed to form a bancassurance partnership to develop and provide insurance solutions for SCB's wealthy clients.

Both companies have a long history of providing Thai people with innovative financial products that meet their evolving needs. The partnership, which will be effective from February 1, will provide SCB's customers with access to Prudential Thailand's  unit-linked products through the bank's licensed financial advisers, said a press release.

SCB and Prudential Thailand will initially offer three-unit linked products with both Regular and Single Premium options1, to serve the protection, savings and investment needs of the Bank's wealth segment customers.

Ms. Salisa Hanpanich, Executive Vice President of First Division and Segment Management Division for Siam Commercial Bank, said "The alliance with Prudential Thailand supports our strategy to provide our customers with best-in-class unit-linked life insurance products, which are perfectly fit to serve the financial and investment needs of customers in the fast-growing wealth segment, as customers in this segment are looking for investment products that provide them with an opportunity to get higher returns than deposit ones, and at the same time get protection for the peace of mind of their families. We expect that, through Prudential's unit-linked products combined with strong team of sales, training and customer service support, we can achieve our ambition."

Aman Chowla, Chief Executive officer of Prudential Thailand, said, "We are proud to partner with Siam Commercial Bank, the longest established bank and one of the most successful banks in Thailand. Bancassurance is an integral part of our multi-distribution strategy to reach and serve Thai customers. This partnership with SCB enables us to leverage our expertise in unit-linked products to provide innovative and need-based solutions to SCB's wealth segment customers. Thailand is one of the largest insurance markets in South East Asia with low insurance penetration, a growing and increasingly prosperous population with significant insurance and savings needs. This partnership will give us further opportunity to reduce the insurance gap in what is an important market for Prudential in Asia."

[1] The three unit-linked products to be offered to SCB customers are SCB Private Link (Single Premium), SCB Protection Link (Regular Premium) and SCB Prestige Link (Regular Premium).