British insurer CGNU has completed a bancassurance partnership deal with major Singapore bank DBS Group. The British insurer has bought the bank-owned Insurance Corporation of Singapore (ICS) and DBS will give CGNU exclusive access to its 4 million Singapore customers.

Under the 10-year deal, CGNU will distribute both life and personal lines policies through the bank’s branches and ATMs, with other financial services products available later through specially trained bank sales staff.

CGNU Exec Director Phil Twyman said the deal “will serve as our springboard into the long-term savings market of southeast Asia”.

“It gives us an opportunity to leverage our European bancassurance experience into new markets and consolidate our existing Singapore general insurance business.”

The company already has significant bancassurance deals operating with Italian and Spanish banks.

CGNU’s Singapore deal is another milestone for the company, which has reported global life and pension sales of more than $16 billion for the first half of the year – a 19% rise over the first half last year. CGNU now has 11% of the British life market, and CEO Richard Harvey said it is benefiting from “a flight to quality” in the pensions market.