Bank takes the cash for life insurer
Swiss Re has paid £762 million ($1.8 billion) cash for the life insurance operation of troubled UK bank Barclays.
The deal, which was negotiated in August but only detailed last week, give Barclays some much-needed capital while Swiss Re gets around 760,000 life insurance and pension policies and annuity contracts worth about £6.8 billion ($16.31 billion) in invested assets. Barclays Life has been closed to new business since 2001.
The business will be folded into Swiss Re’s Admin Re business in the UK. The company said in a statement that the deal “underlines Swiss Re’s role as a leading player in the origination, transfer and trading of insurable risks”.
The deal, which was negotiated in August but only detailed last week, give Barclays some much-needed capital while Swiss Re gets around 760,000 life insurance and pension policies and annuity contracts worth about £6.8 billion ($16.31 billion) in invested assets. Barclays Life has been closed to new business since 2001.
The business will be folded into Swiss Re’s Admin Re business in the UK. The company said in a statement that the deal “underlines Swiss Re’s role as a leading player in the origination, transfer and trading of insurable risks”.