SBI Life achives global ranking among insurers

Mumbai: Top private life insurer, SBI Life Insurance has topped the global Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT)  2010 for the second consecutive year,  after increasing its MDRT members from 2,677 in 2009 to 2,904 in 2010.  Amongst these, 232 have achieved Court of Table (COT) and 39 Top of Table (TOT) membership status.  Consequently,SBI Life ranks first in COT and third in TOT league of tables.

MDRT is a global association of the world's top life insurance sales professionals. Founded in 1927, MDRT has nearly 36,000 of the world's leading life insurance and financial services professionals from 76 nations and territories, representing over 450 companies.The MDRT membership is an exclusive ranking that is achieved by less than 1 per cent of the world's life insurance and financial services advisors.

According to M N Rao, MD and CEO, SBI Life, the  retail distribution structure in India comprising agents and bancassuance personnel, has played a significant role in taking life insurance to a large under-penetrated population, in recent years.''

Remarkably, the company has been consistently featuring amongst the top five insurers, worldwide, since last four years. Globally, the company ranked 5th in 2007, 3rd in 2008, 1st in 2009 and in 2010 with 802, 1666, 2677 and 2,904 MDRT members respectively. 

''In India, the  Bancassurance distribution channel is rapidly evolving and is poised to play a significant role in the shaping the life insurance industry," says Anand Pejawar, executive director, marketing, SBI Life. He also said that bancassurance personnel are now equally positioned with other life insurance professionals to offer life insurance solutions with banking products to their customers.

For the financial quarter ending June 2010, SBI Life Insurance reported a profit of Rs114  crores, registering an impressive profit growth of 195 per cent over the corresponding period last year. Of the total premium growth of 9.5 per cent to Rs 1,707 crore during the period, new business premium collected, during the first quarter, stood at Rs. 976 crore. SBI Life's assets under management grew by 65 per cent, over the corresponding period last year, to  Rs 30,082 crore as on 30 June 2010 . The company gross written premium ratio 9.18 per cent is among the lowest in the industry.

SBI Life Insurance is a joint venture between State Bank of India and BNP Paribas Assurance, the insurance arm of BNP Paribas - the largest French company in the Euro Zone that ranks fifth in the banking industry globally. It is 6th most valuable international banking brand according to Brand Finance 2008.

SBI owns 74 per cent of the total capital with BNP Paribas Assurance holding the rest. The company has an authorized capital of Rs2,000 crore and a paid up capital of Rs1,000 crores.

SBI Life's growth has been attributed to its affiliation to the country's largest bank, the government owned State Bank of India group, which along with its six associate banks has arguably the world's largest  branch network of over 16,000 across the country, which the insurer leverages extensively for cross-selling insurance products to SBI's over 100 million accounts across the country.

In addition, SBI Life has a multi-distribution model encompassing bancassurance, retail agency channel of 68,000 insurance advisors, institutional alliances and corporate distribution channels.