S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of insurance news stories and more published throughout the week. Please note that some entries may have links to third-party sources that may require a subscription.
Policies and regulatory developments
* New Zealand's Auckland High Court set the date to hear the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's application to liquidate CBL Insurance Ltd. on July 30, for three days. The move comes after the central bank reportedly pulled out of a liquidation hearing scheduled in the week of June 4 involving the CBL Corp. Ltd. unit.
* Some insurers may pre-emptively boost their capital buffers in the run-up to the introduction of new global accounting rules in 2021, S&P Global Ratings has predicted. The expected impact of implementing IFRS 17 will be greater for South Korean insurers because of the "negative spread" arising from legacy high-yield guarantee policies, especially for life insurers.
* South Korean regulators plan to introduce competition into the country's reinsurance market by allowing domestic newcomers to compete with Korean Reinsurance Co.
* The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India reportedly called on general insurers to create long-term motor third-party liability products. The regulator is seeking five-year policies for two-wheelers and three-year contracts for cars.
M&A and IPOs
* Australian health insurers HBF Health Funds Inc. and The Hospitals Contribution Fund of Australia Ltd. ended their discussions regarding a planned merger of equals. The combination of the two health insurers would have created a A$4 billion entity with a market share of 18.4%.
* Japan's Daido Life Insurance Co. agreed to acquire a 14.9% voting equity stake in Australian life insurance company Integrity Group Holdings Ltd.
* Sompo International completed the acquisition of Lexon Surety Group LLC's operating subsidiaries. The combined operation will be led by Brian Beggs, executive vice president of Sompo International Surety.
* MBK Partners Ltd. reportedly stalled its plans to sell its 59.19% stake in ING Life Insurance Korea Ltd. after KB Financial Group Inc. pulled out of the US$2.30 billion deal.
* Legal & General Group PLC agreed in principle to sell its stake in IndiaFirst Life Insurance Co. Ltd. to an affiliate of U.S.-based private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC for 7.11 billion Indian rupees, or roughly £79 million.
* Taiwan's Fubon Life Insurance Co. Ltd. reportedly plans to participate in Huifu Payment Ltd.'s IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
* The Main Board Issuance Approval Committee of the China Securities Regulatory Commission approved People's Insurance Co. (Group) of China Ltd.'s proposed IPO of not more than 4,598,807,861 A shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
In other news
* The Insurance Council of Australia reportedly said more than 6,700 personal claims have been lodged so far in the wake of a storm that hit Tasmania in May.
* Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd.'s planned sale of its New Zealand-based life insurance business is credit positive because it will lift the group's level 2 common equity Tier 1 ratio by about 15 basis points, Moody's said.
* Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Keluarga Bhd. will begin operating its family takaful and general takaful businesses separately, effective June 1. The company also said it changed its name to Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Keluarga Bhd.
* Korea Post Bank's insurance unit reportedly committed to allocate US$200 million to three foreign private equity funds.
* Prudential Vietnam Assurance Pvt. Ltd. reportedly obtained approval from the country's finance ministry to raise its charter capital to 4.128 trillion Vietnamese dong.
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This S&P Global Market Intelligence news article may contain information about credit ratings issued by S&P Global Ratings, a separately managed division of S&P Global. Descriptions in this news article were not prepared by S&P Global Ratings. The original S&P Global Ratings documents referred to in this news brief can be found here.
