The author describes the areas and forms of competition and cooperation between the banking and the insurance sectors. She analyses conditions conducive to cooperation between the two. In the times of great changes in the broadly defined financial sector, agents search their own and related sectors for new business oportunities. The paper discusses areas where banking and insurance services may overlap, focusing on the similarities rather than the differences. In bancassurance there are no winners or losers. The new quality of financial services is based on the advantage involved in a differentiated service offer.