HSBC completes acquisition of AXA Singapore

*** Accelerating HSBC's ambition to be Asia's leading insurance and wealth provider ***

Further to the announcement on 16 August 2021, HSBC Insurance (Asia Pacific) Holdings Limited, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc (HSBC), has completed the acquisition of 100% of the issued share capital of AXA Insurance Pte Limited (AXA Singapore) for a consideration of US$529m, subject to closing adjustments.

Surendra Rosha, Co-CEO, Asia-Pacific at HSBC, commented: "Asia's growing middle class, high savings rate and resilient economic growth are creating huge opportunities in the region's wealth management industry. Our acquisition of AXA Singapore significantly boosts our ability, as an Asia-centric bank, to serve the wealth and protection needs of people in this dynamic region, and to further execute on our strategy of being Asia's leading wealth manager."

Kee Joo Wong, Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Singapore, added: "This acquisition is not just about expanding our insurance capabilities in Singapore, but about building a more holistic banking and wealth management platform for both retail and corporate clients. As we integrate the two insurance operations, customers can look forward to a best-in-class offering across life insurance, healthcare, wealth and banking to meet their needs."

AXA Singapore's operations complement HSBC's existing local insurance business, HSBC Insurance (Singapore) Pte Ltd (HSBC Life Singapore). AXA Singapore's large retail and corporate customer base, multiple distribution channels, and complementary insurance products will allow HSBC to materially scale up and diversify its insurance and wealth business in Singapore.

AXA Singapore is the 8th largest life insurer in Singapore by annualized new premiums, 5th largest property and casualty (P&C) insurer by gross written premiums and a leading health player.¹ AXA Singapore had net assets of US$474m, annualized new premiums of US$85m, gross written premiums of US$739m and profit before tax of US$23m for the year ended 31 December 2020.²

AXA Singapore and HSBC's existing HSBC Life Singapore business will be integrated, expected in the second half of 2022, subject to local regulatory and court approvals. There will be no impact to the terms of any of the policies in-force underwritten by AXA Singapore. Combining the two businesses would make the integrated entity the 7th largest life insurer (based on annualized new premiums) and 4th largest retail GI health insurer (based on gross premiums) in Singapore.³

The consideration for the acquisition was funded from existing resources and had a minimal (c.5bps) impact on HSBC's common equity tier 1 ratio. The acquisition is immediately accretive to the earnings of the Group.

In February 2020, HSBC combined its retail banking and wealth management, asset management, insurance and private banking businesses to create Wealth and Personal Banking (WPB) which serves over 39 million customers globally. HSBC's ambition is to be Asia's leading wealth manager by 2025. Asia generates around half of HSBC's US$1.6tglobal wealth balances and nearly 65% of the Group's wealth revenues. HSBC's insurance business globally contributed to around a third of overall WPB profits and 12% of Group profits in 1H21.

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Note to editors:

HSBC Holdings plc

HSBC Holdings plc, the parent company of HSBC, is headquartered in London. HSBC serves customers worldwide from offices in 64 countries and territories in its geographical regions: Europe, Asia, North America, Latin America, and Middle East and North Africa. With assets of US$2,969bn at 30 September 2021, HSBC is one of the world's largest banking and financial services organisations.

HSBC Life Insurance

HSBC Life is the insurance business of the HSBC Group. We manufacture life insurance products in Hong Kong, mainland China, Singapore, India2, France, UK, Malta, Mexico and Argentina. HSBC has leading insurance capabilities that meet a broad range of protection and wealth needs, including insurance coverage, education, retirement, wealth growth and legacy planning needs. Services and products are available through HSBC banking channels, selected third-parties, including financial advisers and aggregators.

HSBC's Asia wealth strategy

HSBC's ambition is to be Asia's leading wealth manager by 2025, opening up a world of opportunities for Asian, international and HSBC-connected clients, wherever their wealth is created, invested and managed. HSBC is investing heavily in people, technology and products in the next five years, including hiring over 5,000 client-facing wealth roles across the region. As Asia's leading bank across the wealth continuum of mass affluent to HNW and UHNW clients with combined wealth balances of US$810bn3, HSBC has a unique ability to serve the full range and progression of wealth needs - from first-time investors through to UHNW individuals, their families and businesses. HSBC will lead in offering a unified international banking and wealth experience by harnessing the Group's in-house manufacturing strengths in insurance, asset management, private banking, wealth and global markets and delivering the full capabilities of a global universal bank, including HSBC Commercial Banking and Global Banking and Markets, to extend their expertise and enable the Group to attract and deepen wealth relationships among entrepreneurs, business owners, C-suite executives and their employees. With HSBC's leading expertise and capabilities, strong Asian presence and unrivalled international connectivity, these will bring the best of HSBC to deliver a wealth experience which helps all our customers achieve sustainable prosperity.

¹Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) filings and Life Insurance Association of Singapore (LIAS) data as of end of 2020.

²Based on Singapore Financial Reporting Standards (SFRS)

³MAS and LIAS data as of end of 2020.

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HSBC Holdings plc published this content on 11 February 2022 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 11 February 2022 05:48:58 UTC.