ANZ Bank may soon announce the sale of its OnePath Life insurance business in New Zealand.
The bank has been gauging interest in its New Zealand-based life insurance arm since March of this year, following the $2.85bn sale of its Australian OnePath Life unit to Zurich Financial Services. It has since been approached by a number of companies interested in its New Zealand division.
Final bids have now been received by the bank, with the sale price estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
AIA and Partners Life may be among the parties expressing interest in OnePath Life, and Partners Life is thought to be among those to have submitted a final bid for ANZ’s life insurance operation.
“Insurance is a core part of ANZ’s business, and this will continue irrespective of any decision on who manufactures our life insurance products,” an ANZ spokesperson stated. “This process doesn’t affect our funds management business.”
OnePath Life’s New Zealand division recorded a profit of $32.3m in September of last year, and had previously sold its medical insurance business to nib Holdings for $24.7m. Three of Australia’s ‘four pillars’ have now sold their life insurance divisions as a result of tightening prudential requirements, selling assets and raising capital to meet the regulator’s levels.
OnePath Life has operated in New Zealand over the last 17 years, providing both personal and business insurance including life, trauma and shareholder protection. The business currently enjoys an A grade financial strength rating.
