HSBC has agreed to sell Hamilton Insurance Company Ltd and Hamilton Life Assurance Company Ltd to companies within the Aviva group. The Hamilton companies are currently owned by HFC Bank Limited, a subsidiary of US-based HSBC Finance Corporation.
Hamilton Insurance Company Ltd and Hamilton Life Assurance Company Ltd provide primarily a range of health, life and protection insurance.
HSBC and Norwich Union are setting up a joint insurance company which will underwrite the products offered by HSBC and underwritten by Hamilton.
Hamilton also underwrites insurance for a range of branded private medical, health cash and other products.
There is no decision yet as to whether or not the Hamilton name will be continued, or even if new business will still be written on any or all of the current product range. Norwich Union may not want to compete with their own private medical products, while they no longer write health cash.
Those brokers using Hamilton will probably be searching for alternative insurers, even if only as a precautionary measure.
The takeover has to go through the usual financial and regulatory hoops before becoming final.
Life insurance: News update: May 2007
