Insurance Joint Venture at HSBC

HSBC is trying to address lacklustre sales of household and car insurance by forming a joint venture with Aviva.

The bank already distributes products from Aviva's Norwich Union business, but the closer relationship will enable it to share in underwriting profits rather than just receive a slice of commission.

Dyfrig John, who runs HSBC's UK banking business, says he wants to become one of the top ten general insurance providers with annual premiums of around Pounds 600m.

'We should have probably been more successful on our own, but we weren't,' he said, admitting 'we've been punching below our weight'.

HSBC has 10m UK current account customers. It reckons that it could persuade 1.5m of them to buy general insurance.

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