When
43% of consumers switch off news notifications due to digital overload, it reflects a deeper frustration with the fragmented and cluttered nature of digital experiences. That fatigue stems from the mental burden of navigating endless scattered apps and
notifications just to complete basic tasks. For insurance, this shift demands a complete rethink of how protection is delivered.
Consumers engage with their banking apps daily, yet insurance remains something they actively avoid thinking about. This disconnect between where insurers position themselves and where consumers actually spend their time has created a crisis of relevance.
The question is whether we’re delivering protection in a way that respects how people actually want to manage their financial lives.
Why traditional bancassurance misses the mark
Traditional bancassurance promised integration but delivered adjacency. A bank partners with an insurer, adds a tab in their app, and declares success. But when a person is booking a holiday through their banking app and encounters an option to “view travel
insurance,” they’ll click through to what feels like a completely different experience. Often they will wade through policy documents and eventually abandon the process because it feels disconnected from their actual goal.
This isn’t embedding, it’s outsourcing with an illusion of integration. Legacy bancassurance models were designed around distribution, not the consumer. The result: poorly timed, irrelevant products that feel like an afterthought.
The regulatory landscape compounds these challenges. Credit protection insurance, historically a revenue driver, now faces intense scrutiny across Europe. Regulators are questioning whether these products offer fair value to consumers, forcing bancassurers
who’ve relied on this revenue stream to diversify urgently. This pressure creates opportunity for those willing to rethink their approach entirely.
Protection that meets people where they are
The future of bancassurance lies in orchestration. Instead of asking consumers to come to insurance, we need to meet them where decisions that create protection needs are already happening. When someone uses their banking app to finance a laptop, that’s
the moment to offer device protection. When they’re booking travel, that’s when coverage becomes relevant.
This requires fundamentally rethinking insurance infrastructure. Products must be modular enough to assemble on demand. Underwriting needs to happen in seconds. Claims need to be digital-first and resolved quickly, and modern technology makes this vision
achievable. AI can power real-time risk assessment and personalised pricing. Orchestration platforms can coordinate multiple insurance partners behind a single consumer experience. APIs can integrate insurance logic directly into banking flows without consumers
noticing the handoff. But technology alone isn’t enough – it requires strategic partnerships between banks and insurers willing to collaborate from the outset, designing solutions for specific audiences rather than repurposing existing products.
The strategic imperative for banks
Banks have discussed super app ambitions for years, but most struggle beyond payments and basic financial management. The challenge is finding services that consumers actually want to use regularly. Insurance, counterintuitively, might unlock this. Not as
a standalone vertical, but as an invisible protection layer that makes banks’ broader lifestyle offerings more compelling.
When a bank can offer comprehensive travel booking with automatic protection, or device financing with seamless coverage, they’re fundamentally changing their value proposition. According to
BCG research, leading European banks now generate 30% of earnings before tax from bancassurance, compared to just 7% in Southeast Asia – demonstrating untapped potential in developing markets.
This only works if insurance truly disappears into the experience. The moment it requires customers to think like insurance buyers rather than banking customers, friction returns.
Our research shows that 60% of consumers would use their account more if offered embedded insurance, while over 90% remain open to buying it through their bank, citing trust and convenience as primary drivers.
Building for tomorrow
The insurance industry has always struggled with a paradox: our products are critically important but often unwanted. Consumers value having protection, but resent the acquisition process. For decades, the industry tried solving this through simplification
– clearer policies, faster claims, and better service. These improvements are necessary but don’t resolve the fundamental tension.
It’s time to embrace a different solution: making insurance so embedded, contextual, and seamlessly integrated into moments when protection is actually needed, that consumers barely register they’re buying it. Not through overcomplication, but through genuinely
frictionless experiences that deliver real value at precisely the right moment.
In a world of digital fatigue and platform overload, the most valuable services are those quietly delivering protection without adding to the noise. For insurers willing to reimagine distribution and embrace true embedding, banking platforms offer the ideal
environment to make this vision real.
