Canara HSBC reports US$60.25M in premiums

For its first nine months of operations, Canara HSBC garnered US$60.25 million in gross written premiums.

The company’s sales have risen progressively since its launch in June 2008, reaching US$15.37 million of gross written premiums in the month of March 2009.

Mr. Harpal Karlcut, Chief Executive Officer of Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company Limited, said: "The encouraging early sales performance of our business indicates the scale of untapped potential among the customer bases of our large shareholders, Canara Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce and HSBC in India.

"I’m particularly pleased at the broad spread of customers who have purchased our insurance products, including those from the rural and social sectors where the regulatory minimum required levels of sales have been exceeded," he added.

Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company is a partnership between two of India’s largest public sector banks, Canara Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce, and HSBC Insurance (Asia Pacific) Holdings Limited.

Operating a bancassurance model, it has exclusive access to the customer bases of both the public sector banks, Canara Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce, and of HSBC in India. This comprises more than 40 million people and a pan-India network of over 4,100 branches. Currently, the insurer’s products are available through around 600 branches.