This chapter covers financial products marketing across three different continents with specific focus on the US,

the UK, and China. The section on marketing of financial products in the US focuses on banking, insurance, and credit cards. The banking system in the US has undergone a transformation over the years. The universal banking concept has matured. Some of the banks have done away with the terms Bank and Branch and expanded their business into other financial services. Many banks in the US are making a shift from a reliance on fund-based products to fee-based services. Pricing of credit cards has also evolved over the years with changes in pricing policies (based on risk) and computational methods. Ethnic groups in the US form a major customer segment for insurance marketers. The marketers have tailored the communication patterns to appeal to these groups and this approach has paid rich dividends. The trend of worksite marketing has also shown tremendous growth, especially for insurance products. Most financial products in the future will continue to be marketed through this channel. Among the three broad categories of pension plans, only about 20 percent of the workforce opts for individual retirement accounts. Mutual fund marketers make extensive use of online advertising. In the UK, the banking sector has adopted technologies (such as RFID) to monitor/ understand customer behavior. This would alert staff to the customer needs and also help devise methods to improve delivery of services. In life insurance pricing, lifestyle-linked obesity risk has begun to play a major role in premium determination. However, the preferred lives concept has not been very successful due to operational difficulties. The IFAs (Independent Financial Advisors) have gained prominence as a new channel of distribution for a majority of financial products like life insurance, pension, and mutual funds. The emergence of fund supermarkets is a recent development in the UK. These are like grocery stores where a wide variety of funds are available for the customers at one place. The fees levied are lower compared to dealing directly with a fund house due to the large number of mutual fund products that the fund house sells. The Chinese financial services industry is a major target destination for global financial players. The magnitude of foreign investments in the Chinese banking sector is huge, especially in retail banking and vehicle financing. The consumer credit market, which includes credit cards, loans, and mortgages, is another attractive segment for global players. The mutual funds sector is undergoing a major change with commercial banks being allowed to deal with mutual funds.