The bancassurance model is alive and well. The Commonwealth Bank's life and general insurance business, Comminsure, has moved to do its own underwriting on its car insurance product because it believes it can get greater value out of its retail network that way.Comminsure managing director Simon Swanson said that by doing its own underwriting the insurer could integrate the product into CommSee, a retail banking platform that gives staff a complete view of customers' accounts. Swanson said: "The big difference in doing it yourself, rather than having an agency arrangement  (Comminsure used to use Allianz to underwrite its car insurance), is that you get all the information."You can feed all that into the network, create a more seamless relationship with the customer and offer better service."On Monday Comminsure launched a new product disclosure statement for its general insurance range - home, travel and motor. It is the underwriter of all three lines.Comminsure has 130 branch insurance representatives covering 800 branches. Their job is to train branch staff in selling insurance and assist with sales. Swanson said another advantage of bringing the underwriting in-house was that it gave Comminsure greater flexibility in designing the product. The revamped car insurance package includes accidental death cover and baby seat cover. Comminsure is number one in the group life insurance market and has a reputation for aggressive pricing when bidding for the business of big superannuation funds.It is number five in general insurance. Swanson is keen for the group to increase its share in general. According to the latest JP Morgan Deloitte survey of the general insurance market, released earlier this month, domestic motor is one of the few classes of general insurance that has not suffered a big fall in inflation adjusted premium rates over the past year.