Yuanta Financial Holding Co (元大金控) yesterday signed a deal with New York Life Insurance Co to buy its local subsidiary for NT$100 million (US$3.3 million) in cash, allowing the securities-focused conglomerate to expand into the life insurance business.
The acquisition, which still needs to be approved by the Financial Supervisory Commission, came three months after the regulator rejected a proposal by Taishin Financial Holding Co (台新金控) to buy out the subsidiary for the same price over concerns about Taishin’s financial strength.
“The acquisition of New York Life (Taiwan) will enable Yuanta Financial to add life insurance to its core businesses” that are centered around its securities unit, Yuanta Securities (元大寶來證券), and banking arm Yuanta Bank (元大銀行), the group said in a statement.
Both subsidiaries will help sell life insurance policies to boost synergy and provide better customer service once the commission gives the company’s buyout bid the go-ahead, the statement said.
Yuanta Financial promised to maintain the rights and interests of New York Life’s 210,000 customers with 350,000 insurance policies, the statement said.
The company added that it would retain the insurers’ regular employees and commissioned sales agents since it does not own another insurer and so there would not be any overlap in terms of human resources.
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