RBC Insurance

RBC Insurance is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Canada. It is the largest bank owned insurer in Canada. The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is the largest financial institution in Canada with its main business having 80,000 employees and 17 million clients worldwide. It was founded in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1864 and in 1901 renamed itself to the Royal Bank of Canada. It is Canada’s largest company by revenue and is listed as 55th in Forbes reckoning of the world’s largest companies.

RBC Insurance Products Offered

RBC Insurance offers a range of insurance policies aimed at the consumer including home insurance, life insurance, travel insurance and auto insurance. Like other insurance brands offered by large banks it aims to complement their financial offerings. Many wealth management options that are offered by stand alone life insurance companies are not offered due to the fact that they are offered by other sections of the bank.

RBC Mortgage Insurance

Reflecting its status as Canada’s largest lender it also offers insurance for mortgage and unsecured credit. In mortgage insurance it is in a junior position with the Federal government’s Canada Housing and Mortgage Corporation having two thirds of the market.

RBC Insurance Claims Handling

One of the areas in which RBC Insurance tries to differentiate itself with is in its claims handling. It maintains a claims response help line at all times throughout the day, and all the days of the week.

RBC Auto Insurance

One of RBC Insurance’s strongest areas is in car insurance due to its strong retail presence through its branch network. The bank aims to cover almost all types of motor vehicles so as well as cars it also insures snowmobiles, camper, trailers, motorbikes and other types of vehicles. They also attempt to differentiate themselves by using their ability to sell all types of personal insurance, with many of the largest auto insurers being general insurers without the ability to offer life insurance for example.

RBC Home Insurance

Due to its mortgage presence RBC Canada does quite a lot of cross selling of its home insurance. There are three levels of home insurance on offer, basic coverage, enhanced coverage and enhanced plus coverage. These can all be extended to cover second homes.

RBC Insurance Multiple Cover

RBC insurance tries to sell itself as a one stop shop for financial products in general and insurance in particular. It claims there are a number of advantages to this approach. Firstly there are cash savings if multiple types of insurance are bought at the same time, with a maximum 12% discount if auto insurance and home insurance are bought at the same time. Secondly there is the convenience of only dealing with one provider. Finally they claim that there is a more personal service if the same provider has a number of insurance products at the same time.

RBC Insurance Channels to Market

RBC Insurance has a number of channels to market as well as its general branch network. There are dedicated insurance branches in a number of main cities, and there are also the call centre and website that are standard for non-broker based insurance companies. There is also a direct mail operation aiming at their regular bank customers.