The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the central bank of Philippines, has granted permission to lenders to sell life insurance policies as part of their day-to-day transactions.
The new move is a part of a liberalized scheme, known as cross-selling framework, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said.
The bank said in a statement: "Cross-selling is a market practice where bank premises serve as a distribution channel for financial products that are not those of the bank."
As per the new rule, the banks can cross-sell traditional protection-type insurance products such as life policies, even if the insurance product is from an entity that is not within same banking group or financial conglomerate as the bank.
In addition, the lenders are allowed to use their premises as a market place for collective investment schemes or products, which includes mutual funds, unit investment trust funds and variable unit-linked life insurance policies.
The latest rule has been approved by the Monetary Board – Bangko Sentral’s policy-setting body.
"These new disclosures are in line with Bangko Sentral’s drive towards consumer protection and are meant to make potential investors aware of the investment risks," the central bank said.