British multinational insurer Aviva, Chinese investment manager Hillhouse Capital, and Chinese investment holdings firm Tencent have reached an agreement to jointly develop an insurance company in the Hong Kong market, specializing in digital insurance.
As part of the joint venture’s agreement, Hillhouse and Tencent will receive shares in the upcoming Aviva Hong Kong. Once the transactions have been finalized and received regulatory approval, Aviva and Hillhouse will each have 40% stakes in the company, while Tencent will have a 20% share.
The new firm will be joining the Hong Kong insurance market which hosts 161 authorized insurers, with around HKD374 billion (US$48.2 billion) in premiums. According to the Insurance Authority, the incoming regulator for the territory, it would like to see the market adopt new modes of financial technology to develop and distribute insurance products.
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Aviva has recently been focusing on its digital business, as well as combining life and non-life insurance products through cross-selling. Earlier this week, Aviva announced the merger of its life and general insurance divisions in the UK as part of its shift towards digital.
Meanwhile, Tencent has several other insurance ventures, such as ZhongAn Online Property and Casualty Insurance and HeTai Life Insurance, both online insurers.
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