As part of a general wave of European institutions putting their Asian operations up for sale, five insurance firms have expressed an interest in purchasing British Firm, Aviva's, 49 percent stake in its joint venture with Malay bank, CIMB. These sales come on the back of an increasingly unstable European economy which has affected both Aviva and Dutch company, ING, also currently looking to sell their…

Fortis Healthcare has received board approval for their plans to list their Religare Health Trust on the Singapore stock exchange. Meanwhile, the bidding process for the Asian insurance business of ING Groep has moved into the second stage, with a number of contenders making the short list. As a business trust, the Religare Health Trust will contain assets from Fortis' radiological testing and…

The pan-Asian insurance giant American International Assurance (AIA) has posted stronger-than-expected financial results for the first half of 2011. The Hong Kong-listed insurance company reported last week that net profit for the first six months of its fiscal year had risen by almost a quarter due to increased agent productivity and the continued success of its insurance businesses in key Asian markets,…

American International Group Inc. (AIG) has recently been given approval to list its Asian life insurance unit, American International Assurance Group Ltd. (AIA), on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, as per initial plans announced earlier this year by mid-July 2010. Additionally, AIG has released the estimated annual operating profit of AIA, which should reach at least US$2 billion (EUR 1.5 billion) by the end of the fiscal year ending 30 November 2010.

American International Assurance Co. Ltd. (AIA) is set to form a long-term and strategic bancassurance partnership with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) with the aim of becoming a more prominent player in the Chinese insurance market.

AIA Group Chief Marketing Officer, Chris Wei, recently communicated that Asia is the global leader in terms of growth in the life insurance market. According to figures released by Mr. Wei, the annual growth rate of life insurance premiums in Asia is 17 percent, compared to 11.6 percent in Europe and 4.9 percent in North America. These figures were shared with the Financial Services Council of Australia in a conference in the city of Melbourne.

According to recent reports citing an unidentified source, American International Group Inc. (AIG) plans to go ahead with an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of its AIA Group life-insurance unit, later on this year.

The third largest insurer in Europe, Assicurazioni Generali SpA of Italy, has expressed interest in acquiring part of the Asian operations of American International Group (AIG), should the latter opt for selling units rather than pursuing an initial public offer for AIA Group Ltd, the current holding company in control of all Asian businesses.

What could have resulted to be a game changer for the insurance industry in Asia appears now to be in the process of falling apart by bits, pieces and big chunks in the failed negotiations between Prudential and AIG to acquire AIA in a US$35.5 billion deal (EUR 29.1 billion).

The response by investors to the first trading day of Prudential shares in Hong Kong and Singapore has been tepid, in part due to the current slump in the markets in Asia, the which augurs a possible undesired response to the big rights issue planned by Prudential with which to finance the US$35.5 billion (EUR 28.9 billion) takeover of AIA.