Barclays sells life insurance unit to Swiss Re

by Gill Montia

Story link: Barclays sells life insurance unit to Swiss Re

Barclays has agreed the sale of its insurance division to Swiss Re, for over £752 million.

The business holds around £6.8 billion in invested assets, covering 760,000 life insurance and pension policies and annuity contracts.

Barclays Life closed to new business in 2001 and generated premium income of £350 million in 2007.

The bank says the sale of the non-core unit will provide a post-tax gain of around £330 million, which will enhance the group’s recent £4.5 billion fundraising efforts and slightly improve its capital ratios.

Barclays will continue to sell life insurance through intermediaries.

In related news, later this week Barclays will join its rivals in reporting first-half results.

According to a report in the Times, analysts are predicting a fall in pre-tax profits, from £4.1 billion in the first six months of 2007 to around £2.6 billion in the first half of 2008.