Banking industry: Bancassurance vs Personal Banking Assoc
 

I have received offers as a Bancassurance Assoc and Personal Banking Assoc (/brunch relationship manager). I would love to hear opinions about the difference in prospects & how the two tracks compare.

I understand that both are essentially sales roles, and the remunerations offered are pretty much the same.

Difference lies in Banc being purely selling insurance, while PBA/brunch RM involves more kinds of products (e.g insurance loans).

In terms of career progression, hiring managers painted a nice pic for Banc as having the same route as PBA/Brunch RM where moving up in management or sales are both possible, except that Banc receives a much better pay back.

How true are these? Appreciate all your thoughts!

Your PBA is it referring to UOB? If you are referring to UOB, then are you okay with the job scope for 6 months? You will be stationed at the ATM machines and go for road shows for that 6 months as a PBA. And no guarantee that you will move up to personal banker (station in branch). It depends on your performance.

If you are looking at banks for both roles, then yes, either route will bring you to be a RM or Branch Manager if you do well. All are just names. You are still a sales man, just with or without experience only.

If you are looking at Bancassurance, why not look into Financial Institution instead? FI has recurrent commission while banks do not have.

As for if bancassurance having a higher payout of commission than PBA, that i'm not sure.

yes PBA at UOB, Banc/brunch RM at DBS. Im not afraid of long hours, pressure or having to work hard, but i do hope to choose a place that allows the best returns for my effort.

I dont mind the product im selling that much, the sales nature of the roles is essentially the same.

Would you say that since i'm purely selling insurance, going to FI would be better due to recur commission? I'm curious about the +- of Bancassurance vs insurance agencies too. To be honest i ruled out being an insurance agent due to my own stereotypes :P

Thanks for your comments!

Frankly speaking, it is no difference between a Bancasurrance and Insurance Agent. Just that you are working under a bank. It sounds glamorous to be working in the bank, but people in the industry knows that it is the same.

UOB is selling Prudential products.

DBS is Aviva, and I think they are changing to Manulife. So, it is no difference.

OCBC is Great Eastern Products.

Working in banks, you have to be stationed in the branch during normal working hours. And you will meet your clients after your normal working hours in the branch office. Which gives you little flexibility. Of course, being stationed in the branch, means there are going to be walk in customers. But, not all walk in customers are going to bring you sales.

As for FI, you have more flexibility with your time as you do not have to stay in the "office". Of course, there still will be road shows for you to do.

Lets say, (EXAMPLE), you sell a whole term life policy, and the commission is 40%-50%. A person bought a policy, paying monthly premium of $600, your monthly commission for the next 2-3 years will be ~$300 per month (just 1 policy). And the recurrent commission is for 2 - 3 years. Of course, the % of the commission will decrease in the following year. E.g. 1st year, 50%, 2nd year 30%, 3rd year 15%, etc. [They will have quota to hit as well, if you have basic pay].

This is what I know from FI, their recurrent commission varies with the product you sell.

As for Banks, they do not have recurrent commission. For their commission structure pay out, I'm not sure. 1 thing is for sure, if you do not hit a certain target, you will just receive your basic pay. No commission at all.

There are people who left the bank and join FI, and people leave FI to join the bank. So, it is really up to individual preference.

Very true... Those who knows the most will mis sell the least and earn the least. Horrible world.

My opinion = join bancassurance if you are good at sale and will stay in sale, you earn abit more. And join personal banker if you are average at selling or will move out of sales soon, you will have more skills.

if u r planning to join a pte bank later on, good to start of an an rm.

thank you all for your very helpful replies!