Sydney based Macquarie Group sells its Macquarie Life insurance business to Switzerland's Zurich in Australia.
The transaction is subject to regulatory and court approvals, and is expected to be completed in the second half of the 2016 calendar year. Macquarie Life’s Australian based staff will transfer to Zurich as part of the acquisition, according to a statement from Macquarie.
«Macquarie Life is a well performing business. The sale of the business reflects the need for significant scale in the capital intensive life insurance industry in order to drive appropriate returns,» said Greg Ward, Head of Macquarie’s Banking and Financial Services Group.
Following completion of the transaction, Macquarie Life policyholders will become customers of Zurich, who will honour all obligations under new and existing policies.
Not in the Top Five
The procurement by Zurich will establish a business with more scale however it still leaves it outside the current top five players in the A$14 billion life insurance sector. The biggest players are TAL, wealth group AMP, AIA Australia, National Australia Bank's MLC and Commonwealth Bank of Australia's CommInsure.
Last month Zurich issued a statement addressing media reports that had hinted at a possible exit from some parts of Asia by the firm.
