Bancassurers Bank On It For Growth

The changing face of banking has necessitated the need for insurance companies to re-address the bancassurance model worldwide.

As banks have shifted away from solely servicing customers across the counter to new points of sale -- ATMs, Internet banking and smart cards, insurance companies equally need to relook at their respective models and ensure that their systems are in place. Forced to meet the electronic challenge facing the financial sector, insurance companies are developing the necessary software to support the change.

The France-based bancassurance major Cardif has decided to sign with Indian IT player Infosys Technologies Ltd for developing its international IT strategy, as it looks at new points of sale for expanding its bancassurance model. Infosys was selected following a call for tender to five IT service providers.

"We were looking for a leading edge IT partner to support our IT projects at an international level. Infosys' experience in managing large international projects and its excellence in IT development processes were important factors in our decision-making," explained St