This strategic investment is a key milestone for HSBC Life to materially scale up, grow and diversify our insurance and wealth business in Singapore. The purchase will put the group in a leading position in health and employee benefits and quicken its expansion in wealth and health planning. Combining AXA’s Singapore operations with its existing business there will give it more than 600,000 policies in force covering life, health and property and casualty in Singapore. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and expected to close by the fourth quarter.
For AXA, the sale is the latest move in its efforts to consolidate its footprint in Asia following a series of business re-organizations. It agreed to sell its insurance operations in Malaysia to Generali in June and combine its Indian non-life operations with ICICI Lombard in August 2020. HSBC, the biggest of Hong Kong’s three currency-issuing banks, is making a big bet on wealth management in Asia, investing US$3.5 billion and hiring more than 5,000 people in its wealth operations over the next five years. Singapore, in addition to Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area, is an important pillar of that strategy. It also gives HSBC’s insurance arm access to a large prime agency base, which will help it access customers outside the bank.