Aflac’s insurance subsidiaries Aflac of Columbus and Aflac of New York have reached an agreement to acquire Zurich North America’s group benefits business.
The financial details of the transaction have not been made public.
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Zurich’s group benefits business consists of group life, disability and absence management products.
Under the deal terms, Aflac subsidiaries will reinsure Zurich North America’s US group life and disability policies with an annualised premium of about $115m.
In addition, Aflac will acquire Zurich’s absence management platform along with the assets needed to support the group life and disability business.
Following the acquisition, Zurich’s staffs at its group life and disability business are expected to be transferred to Aflac.
Aflac’s acquired group benefits business will continue to offer its employee benefit products to Zurich’s global clients with a US presence.
Aflac US president Teresa White said: “This strategic transaction further enhances our value proposition to brokers and employers and aligns with our vision of being the number one distributor of benefit solutions to the U.S. workforce.”
Concurrently, Aflac and Zurich also agreed with Benefit Harbor to transfer the assets and employees of Benefit Harbor Insurance Services to Aflac.
Benefit Harbor Insurance Services is an outsourced platform that supports the group life and disability business of Zurich North America.
Aflac US executive vice president and chief distribution officer Richard Williams said: “This transaction expands Aflac’s value proposition and enhances our position on the first page of the employee benefits enrolment.
“We intend to build upon the strong framework created by Zurich by continuing to grow Aflac’s group benefits business and provide a more holistic product set to brokers and employers.”
Subject to the receipt of regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2020.
