The Insurance Commission has approved the acquisition by Munich-based Allianz SE of Germany of Philippine National Bank’s (PNB) shares in its life insurance subsidiary. In a statement, Insurance Commissioner Emmanuel F. Dooc, said they approved Allianz’s acquisition of Lucio Tan-led bank’s 12,750 common shares in PNB Life Insurance. Allianz had requested for the approval of the commission for it to acquire control over PNB Life Insurance, a wholly Filipino-owned and managed life insurance company. “The acquisition was a result of the joint venture agreement between Allianz and PNB which, according to Allianz, will operate under the name Allianz PNB Life Insurance, Inc.,” the commission said. “This transaction marks the re-entry of Allianz to the Philippine insurance market after its pull out from the Philippines after a fruitful five-year joint venture with the Pioneer Group, Pioneer Allianz Life Assurance, Corp.,” it added. Allianz earlier announced that an important part of the joint venture is a 12-year bancassurance agreement. “The partnership of the two companies will allow Allianz to enter into the market with an established distribution network through its proposed bancassurance agreement with PNB which has more than 660 branches located in the country,” Dooc said. In 2013, Republic Act No. 10607 or the Amended Insurance Code took effect which institutionalized bancassurance allowing the cross-selling of insurance products within the premises of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas-licensed banking institutions. According to Dooc, “bancassurance agreements, which are subject to regulatory approvals, proves to be mutually beneficial to the banks and insurance companies. “In 2014, the combined total premium of six insurance companies with existing bancassurance agreements, accounted for 34 percent of the total premium of the entire insurance industry,” he added. In December 2015, the Insurance Commission approved the proposed acquisition by Philippine AXA Life Insurance Corporation of the entire issued capital share of Charter Ping An Insurance Corporation from GT Capital Holdings, Inc. As earlier announced by Philippine AXA, it will extend its bancassurance agreements with GT capital and Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company.
Allianz SE has received regulatory approval from the Philippine Insurance Commission to acquire the life insurance unit of the Philippine National Bank's (PNB). The acquisition will be completed by mid-2018, according to a statement released on Monday by Allianz in Manila.