Canara HSBC OBC Life Insurance posts Rs 165 cr profit in FY19

Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company Wednesday registered a profit of Rs 165 crore for the financial year ended March 2019. With this, the company has managed to wipe out accumulated losses and achieved break even, Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company chairman R A Sankara Narayanan said here.

Expressing satisfaction over the performance, he said the company has done well since its operation in 2008 and going forward there are huge opportunities for growth.

Narayanan, who also happens to be the managing director of Canara Bank, said the company is well capitalised and will take care of its growth for the next three years.

The company -- jointly owned by two leading public sector banks Canara Bank (51 per cent stake) and Oriental Bank of Commerce (23 per cent) -- has HSBC Insurance (Asia Pacific) Holdings Limited as foreign partner with 26 per cent stake. 

The paid up capital of the company was Rs 950 crore at the end of March 2019.

During the year, new business premium income grew by 19 per cent to Rs 1,460 crore as against Rs 1,228 crore in the previous fiscal year.

The company's gross written premium has increased by 26 per cent from Rs 2,781 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 3,491 crore in the last fiscal.

The company's Assets under management (AUM) rose to Rs 14,854 crore and solvency margin stood at 394 per cent as on March 31, 2019.

Asked about initial public offer by the company, he said the decision has not been taken yet and it will be done at an opportune time.

Speaking about the numbers, the company's managing director Anuj Mathur said, "We have completed ten years of operations and has successfully wiped off accumulated losses. Our focus is to develop products customised to the requirements of our customers." 

Further this year, he said key focus area also will be on transformation in business processes and exploring various avenues wherein the company can digitally integrate with partner banks to make life insurance a part of their product offerings for the customers.