Aflac’s subsidiaries will reinsure in-force group life and disability policies of Zurich North America’s Group Benefits business on an indemnity basis
Image: Aflac’s headquarters in Columbus, in the US state of Georgia. (Credit: Wikipedia.org/Garydunncolumbusgausa.)
Aflac announced that its subsidiaries American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus (Aflac of Columbus) and American Family Life Assurance Company of New York (Aflac of New York) have agreed to acquire the US Corporate Life and Pensions business from Zurich North America, for an undisclosed amount.
The acquisition includes group life, disability and absence management products.
In addition, it will also buy assets required to support the group life and disability business, along with an absence management platform.
The deal is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions and is expected to be closed in the second half of this year.
The American insurer announced that its subsidiaries will reinsure Zurich North America’s US in-force group life and disability policies with annualised earned premium of about $115m, on an indemnity basis.
Aflac US president Teresa White said: “We are very excited to acquire the Group Benefits platform of Zurich North America. 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.”
Aflac expands partnership with Benefit Harbor
Aflac expects that the workforce dedicated to Zurich North America’s US group life and disability business will be transferred to the company.
Additionally, Aflac and Zurich have 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.
Separately, the American insurance company has also expanded its relationship with Benefit Harbor to offer certain specialized services to group life and disability clients.
The group benefits business acquired by the company will be included as a partner within Zurich’s Global Employee Benefits Solutions Partner Network. The move will allow Aflac to offer its employee benefits products to the global clients of Zurich, who are present in the US.
Aflac US executive vice president and chief distribution officer Richard Williams, Jr., said: “This transaction, together with last year’s acquisition of Argus Dental and Vision, expands Aflac’s value proposition and enhances our position on the first page of the employee benefits enrollment.
“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.”
The company stated that the deal is consistent with its strategy for capital deployment into growth initiatives.