AXA closes long-flagged sale of AXA Bank Belgium, takes away insurance ops

French-domiciled insurer  AXA has closed the long-awaited sale of its banking unit to Crelan Bank, carving out and taking the insurance unit Crelan Insurance and securing terms for long-term bancassurance between sides.

AXA took €691 million in cash for its banking operations, then returned €80 million for the insurance unit.

Initial terms from 2019 were adjusted and AXA will now buy €245 million in subscribed additional Tier 1 debt rather than taking a €90 million equity stake, AXA said. As initially agreed, Crelan is picking up the conditional convertible debt of the acquired banks with which AXA had funded the unit.

AXA will take a four-percentage point boost to its Solvency II ratio as a result of the deal, AXA said. The deal is booked on the Q4 2021 accounts.

Sides will now work together to sell insurance under a long-term P&C and protection insurance distribution partnership, largely extending the existing bancassurance terms to the entire Crelan network.

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