Page 13 - Insurance Times August 2019

Private Life Insurance

News

Airtel Payments Bank partners with Bharti AXA Life
American PE firm KKR
Airtel Payments Bank has recently entered into a partnership with Bharti AXA
sells SBI Life stake Life Insurance in order to offer a life term insurance
KKR, American private equity major, plan through its extensive network of banking
has sold points all over the country. The product, Bharti AXA
one- Life POS (Point of Sale) Saral Jeevan Bima Yojana,
third of is aimed at the under-insured and uninsured seg-
SBI Life ments in India. Both the partners will leverage wide
Insur - network in order to reach out to deep rural pock-
ance Co. ets and serve the under-insured.
L t d Vikas Seth, managing director and Chief Executive Officer, Bharti AXA Life Insur-
through a block deal on the market, ance, said, "As a responsible life insurer, we always try to understand the needs
according to the data from stock of customers and provide solutions that meet their financial requirements. As part
exchange.
of our partnership and strong synergies of customer-centricity, we are offering
Value Line Pte Ltd, an affiliate of KKR an affordable pure term insurance plan to the diverse customer base of Airtel Pay-
that held the shares, has sold 6.5 ments Bank across the country to extend protection cover to the uninsured seg-
million shares at a price of Rs 775 ment of the society and improve their financial security and prosperity."
apiece. The sale will fetch KKR Rs All savings bank account customers of Airtel Payments Bank can buy the Bharti
503.7 crore. Before the sale KKR held AXA Life POS Saral Jeevan Bima Yojana through a simple yet quick, secure and
1.95% shares in the company.
paperless process at their banking points. Though the policy is available at Airtel
In December 2016, the firm had ac- Payments Bank's 25,000 retail outlets at the initial stage, this will soon be ex-
quired the SBI Life stake, when it, panded to cover over 60,000 banking points.
along with Singapore state-owned
"We are delighted to partner with Bharti AXA Life Insurance to offer this simple
investor Temasek bought 19.5 mil-
and affordable pure term insurance product to millions of underinsured Indi-
lion shares each in the insurance
ans through our unique and extensive distribution network. Saral Jeevan Bima
company from its promoter State Yojana effectively complements the existing portfolio of financial inclusion prod-
Bank of India for a total of Rs 1,800 ucts on our banking platform which include PMJJBY and APY. This association is
crore.
an important step in our journey towards building a comprehensive product
Both KKR and Temasek had bought portfolio for a financially inclusive society," said Anubrata Biswas, MD and CEO,
the shares at a price of Rs 460 per Airtel Payments Bank.
share. The stake sale to these inves-
tors was a precursor to the initial Satishwar Balakrishnan appointed CFO of Aegon Life Insurance
public offering of the company. In Aegon Life Insurance has recently announced the appointment of Satishwar
September 2017, SBI Life went pub- Balakrishnan as the new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the company. Satishwar
lic in an IPO that saw its promoters brings with him a rich experience of close to two decades in the Insurance and
SBI and BNP Paribas Cardif sell Finance Industry. He joins Aegon Life from IndiaFirst Life he was the Chief Fi-
shares worth Rs 8,400 crore. nancial Officer.

The Insurance Times, August 2019 13