Vienna Insurance Group AG said the merger of units Wiener Städtische Versicherung AG and Sparkassen Versicherung AG has cleared all required internal steps and remains subject solely to approval by the financial markets regulator.

The merger is due to take place in the autumn, creating Austria's largest life insurer, with a 24% market share and premium volume of about €1.4 billion. After the merger, two operating insurance companies — Wiener Städtische and Donau Versicherung AG — will represent the group in Austria.

Sparkassen Versicherung, known as s Versicherung, will be retained as a sales brand.

The internal merger is part of Vienna Insurance's Agenda 2020 strategy, which also includes the merger into composite insurance businesses of bancassurance companies in Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia, where the process is complete, and the Czech Republic, where it is expected to be completed by the end of 2018.