OREANDA-NEWS. AXA announced today that it would expand its existing relationship with GT Capital Holdings, Inc. (“GT Capital”) and its component company Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company (“Metrobank”) to cover Property & Casualty insurance. As part of the transaction, AXA Philippines would acquire 100% of Charter Ping An Insurance Corporation (“CPA”) from GT Capital. The total cash consideration to be paid by AXA Philippines would amount to PHP 2.3 billion (or Euro 45 million1 ). This would allow AXA Philippines to offer Property & Casualty insurance products, alongside its current range of Life & Savings products, and distribute them notably through the extensive branch network of Metrobank.

CPA is the #5 Property & Casualty insurance player in the Philippines with GWP of Euro 68 million in 20142 and offers a full range of fire, motor, marine, personal accident and engineering insurance products. It is a fast-growing company which realized a 21% annual average growth in GWP between 2011 and 2014, benefiting from a successful bancassurance agreement creating synergies with Metrobank.

Metrobank is the #2 bank in the Philippines in terms of assets and deposits3 , relying on a network of 938 branches nationwide. It offers a full range of banking services to large local and multinational corporations, SMEs, high networth individuals and retail clients. Metrobank has already been distributing AXA Philippines’ Life & Savings insurance products since 1999.

Due to the excellent positioning of Metrobank in the Philippines, this transaction would allow AXA to benefit from a new promising Property & Casualty market which offers significant potential with a very low insurance penetration rate (0.45% of GDP in 20144 ), expected to increase over the next years.

“This deal marks the next stage in expanding AXA Philippines to offer a comprehensive range of high-quality insurance products to our customers, enabling us to leverage our international experience in Property and Casualty cover to provide customer-centric solutions. Our close partnership with GT Capital and Metrobank has enabled us to build a strong presence in this high-growth market and this milestone will create new opportunities for further growth, as well as to help enhance the local insurance sector with a wider range of offerings.” said Jean-Louis Laurent Josi, Regional CEO of AXA Asia.

ABOUT AXA PHILIPPINES

AXA Philippines is the #2 Life & Savings insurer in the country6 and is currently operating through a partnership with Metrobank and its parent company GT Capital. AXA Philippines is owned at 45% by AXA, 25% by GT Capital and 28% by Metrobank, and recorded Euro 30 million of APE in 2014 on a group share basis.