FORTIS JOINS WITH MAYBANK TO DEVELOP MALAYSIAN BANCASSURANCE

Dutch-Belgian financial group Fortis and Malaysia’s largest bank Malayan Banking (Maybank) have signed a deal to develop bancassurance in Malaysia, under which Fortis will acquire a 30% equity stake in Maybank’s life and non-life insurance businesses for about MR340m. Maybank will group all its insurance firms under holding company Mayban Assurance, which is to be renamed Mayban Fortis Holdings. Fortis chief executive Anton van Rossum said that the initiative would generate premium growth of 25% a year. He added that “we look for even stronger growth in the initial years, probably 35%”. Maybank managing director Datuk Amirsham A Aziz said that “we are looking for a strategic partner who would help us achieve our objective of being a leading player in the insurance market as well as a prominent retail financial services group. We envisaged a partner who was not just a leader in bancassurance, but also one who was a successful banking group. In our search Fortis came out as the natural partner”. Maybank added that it expected insurance to contribute 5% of its total profit in the financial year ending June 30, 2002, against 3% in 2000.