Bancassurance in Japan: Lessons from Europe and the US

√In December 2007, Japan opened up its bancassurance market. Banks have been allowed to sell a limited range of products, primarily annuities and homeowners’ insurance, since the early 2000s, but this recent move represents one of the largest changes to the Japanese markets in the past few years. Here, Catherine Stagg-Macey*, senior analyst with research and advisory firm Celent’s Insurance Group and Neil Katkov*, managing director of Celent’s Asia Research Group, examine the Japanese life and non-life insurance industries against the backdrop of mature bancassurance markets abroad and analyse the critical factors for success

Japan’s insurance industry is in overall decline, but one sector is doing very well indeed. While still a small portion of overall business, new insurance products aimed at the needs of an aging society have seen strong growth. Due to their growth potential and straightforward structure, new products are expected to become an important focus of bancassur-ance in Japan.