Growth of life insurance in Asia has skyrocketed over the past five years, due to both the expansion of bancassurance channels and massive bancassurance deals, as well as a change in the demographic of the emerging markets of the region. It is a balance between the two that will allow life insurers to continue closing the protection gap, said BPI-Philam Life Assurance CEO Surendra Menon. "Whether this growth trend will continue in the future depends on how they and their bank partners tackle the seven major trends in bancassurance," he said.