Page 13 - Insurance Times April 2019

Private Life Insurance

News

HDFC Life bets on bank/ Carlyle Group acquires 9% stake in SBI Life Insurance
Global investment firm Carlyle Group, has acquired a 9 per cent stake in SBI
NBFC tie-ups to reach
Life Insurance.
customers The Group, which has $216 billion of assets un-
HDFC Life Insurance believes that in- der management across 343 investment vehicles,
surers need to ca- did not disclose the cost of the acquisition. How-
ter to the com- ever, at current market prices, the transaction is
plete lifecycle of a estimated at Rs. 5,445 crore.
customer and is of
Following this transaction, BNP Paribas Cardif and CA Emerald Investments now
the view that the
own 12.8 per cent and 9 per cent, respectively, of the private sector life insurer,
recent change in while SBI remains the majority shareholder with 62.1 per cent stake.
its top manage-
ment will not lead French insurer BNP Paribas Cardif earlier held 22 per cent stake in the life in-
to a significant surer, and it is reported to have been keen to cut its stake to meet regulatory
change in its strategy. norms for a public float. "Carlyle's trust in the company will further strengthen
our resolve to enhance our leadership position in India's life insurance indus-
"We cover the entire life stages of try through a single-minded focus on quality customer experience," said Sanjeev
any individual and we have products
Nautiyal, Managing Director and CEO, SBI Life.
to offer at every stage. At every life
stage, there's an opportunity for a Life Insurance Companies want health cover to be rein-
product - be it deposit, investment
or life insurance. We have to make troduced again
sure that we reach out to our cus- Life Insurance Council, will urge IRDAI to allow them to offer indemnity health
tomers at each of these stages," said cover again. The regulator had barred life
Suresh Badami, Executive Director at insurance companies from offering indem-
HDFC Life. nity health products from July 2016. Cur-
rently, life insurers can only offer fixed-ben-
"We have a clear strategy in terms of
how we reach out to every segment efit health products.
of people in the country. We have HDFC Life MD & CEO Vibha Padalkar pointed
tied up with small finance banks out that the council has formed a commit-
such as Ujjivan, Utkarsh and Capital tee headed by her to deal with the issue. "In
SFB. They have a very strong pres- two-three weeks, we shall submit a proposal to IRDAI for resuming health in-
ence in their respective market, demnity cover for life companies." According to her, insurance remains a logi-
which helps us reach out to custom- cal growth path for a life insurance company as the underlying risk remains the
ers. For instance, in the East, we same.
have Bandhan Bank as a large part- Being risk managers for a longer term, life insurers are at a natural vantage
ner, in the South, we have Ujjivan...," position to offer better value proposition to meet the healthcare needs of their
Badami said. customers.

The Insurance Times, April 2019 13