Manulife and Bank Muamalat have signed a new, long-term strategic bancassurance partnership with the latter's clients in Indonesia gaining access to a wide range of Manulife's insurance solutions via the bank's extensive retail network in that country and and other distribution channels such as telemarketing.
The strategic alliance builds on the leading presence, complementary strengths and established bancassurance capabilities of both Manulife and Bank Muamalat in Indonesia, a country with the world's largest Muslim population. The new partnership is expected to deliver significant value to the more-than-four million clients of Bank Muamalat. Clients will benefit from the bank's strong Islamic banking capabilities and a leading portfolio of Sharia- compliant insurance solutions from Manulife with life protection and long-term savings elements.
Endy PR Abdurrahman, president director of Bank Muamalat, explained that this partnership will extend its ability to cater to their clients' protection needs. "As the first sharia bank in Indonesia, we are committed to providing our clients with financial services that aren't only sharia compliant, but also accessible to the whole society, including those in remote areas. This partnership will surely open bigger new business opportunities for Bank Muamalat."
Manulife Indonesia's chief executive officer and president director, Chris Bendl, added: "We are delighted to be able to expand our reach to millions more clients through such a strong, reputable and fast growing company as Bank Muamalat. Both Manulife Indonesia and Bank Muamalat have a long proven track record of success and commitment to Indonesia."
At the initial phase of the partnership, Bank Muamalat clients will have access to six selected Manulife sharia-compliant insurance solutions spanning the categories of life protection and savings elements, such as term life insurance, unit link, personal accident, health insurance, and credit life. More sharia-compliant insurance solutions will be introduced subsequently, fulfilling the increasing demand of clients for insurance as part of their total wealth management, including simple sharia life insurance products for mass market, sharia unit link products for affluent customers, and sharia credit life.
This marks the completion of the agreement between Bank Muamalat and Manulife to build a strategic partnership, following their earlier memorandum of understanding in November 2014.