Zurich’s recent acquisition of ANZ’s life insurance portfolio completes the firm’s growth plans in Australia, according to its global head.
On a call with investors following the deal, Mario Greco, Zurich’s group chief executive officer, said that the firm has hit its Australian aims.
“The transaction is fairly simple and it fits perfectly with our strategy and our past decisions,” Greco said, according to A.M Best. “This concludes our growth in Australia and brings us to the position that we wanted to achieve there.”
The deal, which was announced earlier this month, saw the global insurer take on the ANZ book for a total of $2.85 billion. The sale also saw Zurich enter into a 20-year distribution agreement with ANZ in Australia to distribute insurance products via the bank.
“The bank is an excellent partnership for us. It’s a cash generative deal,” Greco continued. “We thought the financials were extremely interesting and fair. All in all, it fits with the strategy, it balances the portfolio of Zurich and adds products that we know and that we like.
“It will make Australia one of our top countries.”
Zurich has had several busy years in the Australian market, following the 2016 acquisition of
Macquarie Life and the 2017 deal which saw the firm take control of Cover-More.
George Quinn, group chief financial officer, said that the ANZ deal does not conflict with earlier transactions.
“We don’t think of it as a target mix between life and property/casualty,” Quinn said, according to A.M Best. “This is more of where do we have the capabilities and where do we have the ability to market under the right conditions for us to be successful?”
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