Beyond the Point of Sale: How Bancassurance is Learning to Earn Trust

Dec 01, 2025 RIFE , Article , Bancassurance

By Agnieszka Dąbrowska, Łukasz Sieduszewski

A significant shift is brewing in European bancassurance, one that promises to redefine the relationships between banks, insurers, and customers. At the heart of this change is the deferred sales model – a regulatory intervention that separates the moment a loan is signed from the purchase of associated insurance. While framed as a consumer protection measure, this "cooling-off period" is, in reality, a powerful catalyst forcing the entire industry to modernise.

The bedrock of bancassurance: trust and timing

To understand the impact of this change, one must first appreciate why bancassurance is so dominant in Europe. It’s a channel built on a foundation of trust and unique customer insight. Banks know their customers' life rhythms – when they take a mortgage, apply for a new card, or open a savings account. This context makes offering insurance a natural, timely conversation rather than a forced sale.

The numbers confirm this strength: over half of all life insurance policies in Europe are sold by banks, with this share soaring to 80% in Portugal and 60% in France. Bancassurance works because it leverages data and trust that no external agent can match.

That’s where the Jutro Digital Platform (JDP) comes in – delivering modular design, continuous updates, and seamless integration across the insurance ecosystem.

The impending challenge: systemic constraints exposed

However, this efficient, integrated model is facing a direct challenge from new regulations like the CCD2 Directive and EIOPA guidelines. The deferred sales model mandates a pause, ensuring customers can make a decision about insurance free from the pressure of a loan signing.

For banks and insurers, this isn't just a minor process tweak; it exposes deep-seated systemic constraints that have long limited the pace of innovation:

Aging technology:The average core banking system in Europe is even up to 15 years old. Sixty percent of banks cite this obsolescence as a barrier to seamless cooperation with insurers, and nearly half of insurers admit their own systems lack the flexibility for modern integration. The new model, which requires seamless re-contact and consent management, highlights these limitations starkly.
Organisational silos:Often operating at the intersection of divisions, bancassurance projects can lack a clear strategic owner, causing them to lose resources to core banking initiatives. Where it is integrated into a broader customer relationship strategy, however, the results are clearly positive.
Overwhelmed IT portfolios:With a deluge of new regulations (DORA, ESG, CCD2), technology teams are consumed by mandatory compliance, leaving little room for development. In 2023, 98% of EMEA financial institutions reported rising compliance costs, pushing innovation to the back seat.

A global precedent: adaptation is possible and beneficial

The path forward is not uncharted. Other markets have already navigated this shift. In the UK, a ban on same-day Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) in 2011 initially caused a 40% sales drop but ultimately rebuilt market trust. In Australia, a four-day deferred model led to a 35% initial sales decline but halved customer complaints and accelerated digital adoption. These cases show that while the initial impact is significant, the market not only adapts but can emerge healthier and more digitally mature.

The German case study: a blueprint for a combined approach

Germany, a bancassurance giant accounting for 18% of the European market, is the latest to adopt this model with a seven-day cooling-off period under the ZuFinG Act. Facing this change, one major player, supported by Sollers Consulting, evaluated four primary adaptation scenarios:

Email outreach:Low-cost but suffers from low conversion and high IT security requirements.
In-app notifications:High-trust but complex to implement within a bank's technology roadmap.
Call centre upselling:Delivers high conversion rates but at a high operational cost and with limited scalability.
A "for now" product:Offering a non-loan-linked protection product at the point of sale to maintain the relationship.

The bank opted for a combined model, using the call centre for the deferred CPI sale while introducing a new, immediate protection product at the loan signing. This balanced approach aims to maintain customer relationships and mitigate sales decline while ensuring full compliance.

The paradigm shift: from reaction to innovation

Ultimately, the deferred sales model is doing more than just altering a process; it is forcing a strategic rethink. The focus is shifting from simple, credit-linked products to building a financial protection ecosystem. Insurance is becoming a natural, embedded part of a customer's digital journey with their bank.

This is the real innovation. We are witnessing the rise of:

Standalone insurance:Independent products, such as household or motor insurance, which are offered outside of credit processes. This type of offering is previously unseen in traditional banking.
Value-added products:Health, travel and devices enhanced with wellness programmes and lifestyle services that shift the focus from pure debt coverage to everyday value.
True multi-channel sales:Customers can start a process on an app, continue on the web and finish with an advisor, with no friction.
Embedded insurance:Seamlessly integrated into loans, savings and retail purchases.

In order to support this transformation, banks are increasingly relying on dedicated bancassurance platforms that operate independently from their core banking systems. Solutions such as RIFE, which was developed by Sollers Consulting, are specifically designed for managing insurance processes within the banking ecosystem, including product configuration, sales, policy servicing and reporting.

By combining regulatory compliance with flexibility and speed, RIFE enables banks to respond faster to market changes, introducing new products within weeks rather than months while maintaining control over end-to-end insurance operations.

RIFE also supports omnichannel models and insurer integrations, helping banks to gain a competitive advantage in an environment where technology, customer expectations and regulation are evolving simultaneously.

Conclusion: a turning point, not an endpoint

Rumours of the death of bancassurance are greatly exaggerated. The changes driven by the deferred sales model do not spell its end but mark a necessary evolution. They are a catalyst, pushing the industry from a model of convenient timing to one built on genuine value, transparency, and digital-first relationships.

Banks that view this not as a mere regulatory obligation but as a strategic opportunity to modernise their technology, products, and customer engagement will be the ones to define the next decade of bancassurance. The future belongs to those who can seamlessly combine compliance with innovation.

Bancassurance is entering a pivotal moment: the deferred sales model is not a threat but a catalyst accelerating long-overdue modernisation. By exposing aging systems, organisational silos and compliance-driven IT backlogs, it pushes banks and insurers to redesign their customer journeys and product strategies. Global examples show that although sales initially decline, trust, digital adoption and long-term performance ultimately improve.

The future belongs to models built on value, transparency and seamless omnichannel experiences — supported by flexible platforms like RIFE that enable rapid product launches and integrated insurance operations. In this new landscape, those who treat regulation as an opportunity rather than an obstacle will define the next decade of bancassurance.

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