Mumbai: ING Vysya Financial Services today announced that Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Company will be its non-life insurance partner for the distribution of insurance to customers of ING Vysya Bank.

ING Vysya Financial Services, a 100-per cent subsidiary of ING Vysya Bank, will become the corporate agent of Royal Sundaram and distribute Royal Sundaram's products across the extensive ING Vysya branch network.

Royal Sundaram will look to develop a range of insurance products for customers of ING Vysya, with a particular focus on the small business segment, household and personal accident insurance. The two companies have been working together on a number of pilot projects over the last 18 months, providing insurance to loan customers and accountholders of the bank, including ING Vysya Bank's recently launched Orange account.

ING Vysya Bank, headquartered in Bangalore, is a premier bank among the Indian private sector banks. Over the past 72 years, the bank has carved a niche for itself, by serving various key segments of the country's economy.

Effective from October 2002, ING has taken over the management as the largest stakeholder. As of today, the bank has over 500 outlets across the country with over 200 outlets among them duly networked. The bank handles a business of over Rs 15,000 crore, with a customer base of over 3 million.

The bank, with its network of offices and the strength of its distribution subsidiary, ING Vysya Financial Services, is looking to greater opportunities for the development of business in terms of distribution of financial products and services, to augment its income both for the parent and the subsidiary. More importantly, this will place the bank in a better position in terms of competition - vis-à-vis product and service availability.

Says Bart Hellemans, managing director and CEO, ING Vysya Bank: "ING is not venturing into non-life insurance business in India. Our decision, therefore, has been to partner Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Company. This has been prompted considering the fact that like the erstwhile Vysya Bank, Sundaram Finance group is a well-known financial entity across India. We are confident that the local strengths of Vysya and Sundaram, and the global expertise of Royal & SunAlliance and ING will add meaning to this partnership and give it the required strength to penetrate a competitive milieu of general insurance."

Says Steven Billiet, managing director and CEO, ING Vysya Financial Services: "ING Vysya Financial Services provides a wide range of financial services products to its customers. With our partnership with Royal Sundaram, we now have a complete portfolio of investment and protection products.

"Royal Sundaram was chosen because of its proven expertise in bancassurance, and because it complements ING Vysya Bank, both in terms of its strong brand awareness in South India and its approach to business, which is based on ethical values and many years of proven customer service excellence."

Says Micky Brigg, managing director, Royal Sundaram: "This partnership with ING Vysya is a clear strategic fit for Royal Sundaram. We are the leading private non-life insurer in the South and there is tremendous potential in the four southern states to write profitable business. Consistent with ING Vysya's strategy, we have a clear focus on the need for insurance for the traders and the small business segment.

"Our pilot projects have been successful in that we already insure over 76,000 bank customers. Through this partnership, we aim to cover at least 20 per cent of the bank's customers in the next three years.

"We will also develop a number of bespoke products for ING Vysya customers, and our first area of focus for research and development will naturally be traders and the small business segment. This will become a key area of growth owing to the increasing economic prosperity of the southern states."