A recent press report said that Canara Bank has tied up with Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company for a micro-insurance product. This will be offered on the smart cards that it provides in its financial inclusion initiative. At a premium of Rs 100, the insurance will offer a cover of Rs 22,500.
Ms. Archana S. Bhargava, Executive Director, Canara Bank, told the press that the bank has planned to provide 10 different facilities for each smart card. Reports said that facilities such as savings account, in-built overdraft account, remittance facilities, debit/credit through smart card and micro-insurance products are available with the smart card.
Ms. Bhargava said that the bank was also working on providing a pension product, mutual fund product and access to trading account through the smart card in the next two years and is also planning to enable remittance facilities through these cards.
The bank has recently sanctioned 1,000 self-help group loans, 1,000 general credit card loans, 1,000 differential rate of interest (DRI) loans, and 200 loans to joint-liability groups at an event at Devanahalli, near Bangalore.