Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) is keen to seek out partners for its bancassurance business in a bid to offer a better variety of life insurance products and tap all customer segments.
The move is aimed at setting SCB apart from industry peers that have their own life insurance units.
The country's third-biggest bank by assets recently signed a memorandum of understanding with ACE Life, making SCB the first bank to sell the products of another life insurer through its branch network.
Premiums contributed by the bancassurance channel have risen considerably in recent years and helped to boost banks' non-interest revenue, while insurance firms without parent banks have tried to grab opportunities in the fast-growing market.
SCB executive vice-president Araya Phuphanich said the bank had talked to several companies about developing life insurance products to serve a wider variety of customer requirements.
The partnership with ACE Life is the bank's first deal.
Under the tie-up, ACE Life will offer insurance policies through SCB branches, targeting customers with a minimum monthly income of 100,000 baht.
Ms Araya said the products would largely be protection and retirement policies tailored to Thailand as it becomes an ageing society.
"Now most bancassurance products are endowed with features similar to bank deposit products, while competition in this business area is quite strong," she said.
"So we want to differentiate and respond to real demand in each customer segment. We expect to launch ACE's policies for bank customers in next year's first quarter."
While SCB is opening up business opportunities for other life insurers, the bank's SCB Life Assurance subsidiary remains a key player in bancassurance.
The bank owns 62.95 million shares representing a 94.66% stake in SCB Life.
Selling insurance policies through SCB's bancassurance channel contributes the largest portion of premiums to SCB Life.
SCB recently began allowing non-life insurers in which the bank does not hold a stake to sell products through SCB's bancassurance channel, although the bank also has its own non-life subsidiary, Samaggi Insurance.
For the full year, SCB expects total bancassurance premiums from both life and non-life insurance will reach 26-27 billion baht including 14 billion from first-year premiums.
SCB shares closed yesterday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand at 177.50 baht, up 1.50 baht, in heavy trade worth 1.49 billion baht.