Westpac Sells Life Insurer Unit to Dai-Ichi for $660 Million

(Bloomberg) -- Westpac Banking Corp. has agreed to sell its life insurance unit to Dai-ichi Life Holdings Inc.’s Australian subsidiary TAL for A$900 million ($660 million) as Australia’s second-largest lender continues to jettison non-core assets to focus on lending.

The completion of the transaction, confirming an earlier Bloomberg report, is expected to happen in the second half of next year, Westpac said in a statement Monday. Under the agreement, Westpac will enter a 20-year exclusive strategic alliance with TAL to provide the bank’s customers with life insurance products.

“This transaction is another step in simplifying the bank while continuing to help customers with their life insurance needs,” Jason Yetton, Westpac’s specialist businesses and group strategy head, said in the statement.

Westpac’s divestment comes in addition to the Sydney-based lender’s sale of its general insurance business to Germany’s Allianz SE for A$725 million and an agreement to sell its Pacific unit to Kina Securities Ltd. for as much as A$420 million. The moves come after a series of scandals that led to a record A$1.3 billion fine for Westpac to settle the country’s biggest breach of anti-money laundering laws.

Westpac will retain responsibility for certain pre-completion matters, the statement said.

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