HSBC Holdings is set to launch a $23 million advertising campaign to boost public awareness of its insurance operations.
The company is aiming to nearly quadruple the number of customers using its life and general insurance products through maximising the use of its banking and direct sales outlets.
The aim to increase sales penetration from 4 per cent to 15 per cent of its client base would bring it in line with other major commercial banking operations with insurance divisions.
The advertising campaign follows a recent top-level management restructuring as the group moves to upgrade its global assurance - selling financial services products through its retail banking distribution network - operations.
The group is believed to consider this the fourth major revenue stream to complement its trade finance, corporate finance and personal banking operations.
It is using the recent acquisitions of commercial banks in Latin America and the distribution deal to distribute Royal Sun Alliance products across Southeast Asia as a springboard for the global strategy.
Revenues from the insurance operations, which are generally buried in the accounts of the group's commercial banks, account for about 4 per cent of the group's revenues.