Anotace:
This paper will evaluate the current state of cooperation between banks and insurance companies as well as internal integration of bancassurance products in financial groups Erste Group Bank and UniCredit Group. The evaluation is performed as of May 1, 2016. There shall be selected six countries which are part of the region Central and Eastern Europe, namely the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Hungary, Romania, Croatia and Serbia. This paper aims at ascertaining whether or not there are similarities in how bancassurance functions in selected financial groups and countries. This paper shall apply a qualitative research approach. Bancassurance shall be analyzed, compared and evaluated from the viewpoint of integration of financial groups as well as of bancassurance products. A critical analysis of literature available will frame the field of bancassurance models of cooperation and bancassurance functioning. This review will provide a theoretical base for evaluating the level of cooperation between banks and insurance companies and for evaluation an internal integration of bancassurance products. The theoretical base shall be compared with the current bancassurance practice within financial groups and countries. To evaluate bancassurance practice, this paper shall use data available on web sites, financial and annual reports of financial institutions. The qualitative research shall contain a detailed analysis, sorting and comparing of set theoretical bases. Finally, this paper shall ascertain which characteristics are similar and which are different in integration of financial groups and bancassurance products.