Manulife, DBS Near Insurance Deal for Asia Worth More Than $1 Billion--Update

By Rick Carew 

HONG KONG-- Manulife Financial Corp. is near a multiyear deal worth over $1 billion that will allow the Canadian firm to exclusively distribute its insurance products through Singaporean lender DBS Group Holdings Ltd.'s branches across Asia, according to people familiar with the situation.

The deal with DBS, expected to be signed late Wednesday, is the latest by a global insurer seeking access to one of the world's fastest-growing life insurance markets. Banks across Asia have been fetching high prices for multiyear exclusive access to their branch networks, giving insurers a way to increase their sales quickly in the region.

Prudential PLC last year renewed a distribution partnership with Standard Chartered PLC. That followed AIA Group Ltd. and Citigroup Inc. inking a multibillion-dollar deal for AIA to distribute its insurance products through Citigroup's Asian-Pacific retail branch network in late 2013. HSBC Holdings PLC sells its own insurance products through its banking network.

The terms of the DBS deal include a one-time, upfront payment from Toronto-based Manulife worth slightly more than $1 billion to DBS, with additional variable payments to be made based on the performance of the partnership, one of the people familiar with the said. The agreement is known as a bancassurance deal, which means the insurance products are distributed through a bank's branch network rather than through individual insurance agents.

The duration of the agreement would be the industry standard 15-year contract. Manulife previously had cooperated with DBS in the Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia markets.

A spokesman for Manulife declined to comment. A spokeswoman for DBS Group didn't reply to a request for comment.

Manulife is taking over from U.K. insurer Aviva PLC, which was previously the primary distributor of insurance products via the DBS network across Asia. The contract between Aviva and DBS wasn't renewed, although Aviva participated in the bidding process for the new contract, a person familiar with the situation said.

Global insurers are eager to grow their sales across Asia as penetration rates for insurance products remain low relative to more mature markets. Manulife currently operates across 12 markets in Asia and has more than 57,800 agents in the region, according to its annual report. Manulife's Asia operations recorded $1.3 billion in insurance sales last year, an increase of 31% over its 2013 insurance sales, which totaled just over $1 billion.

Asia accounted for 18% of Manulife's total premiums and deposits last year and 13% of its total assets under management, according to its annual report.

Write to Rick Carew at [e-mail]

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