Banks' selling insurance assets seen related to new financial standard

RHB Capital has no definitive target on the number of staff to be released under the CTS.

PETALING JAYA: The move to dispose of non-core assets to beef up capital for the upcoming new standard on loan impairments under MFRS 9 may explain why some banks are in a rush to sell their insurance businesses.

Analysts told StarBiz that recent news reports of RHB Bank Bhd being in talks to sell its insurance business and Hong Leong Financial Group getting approval from Bank Negara to dispose of its equity interest in Hong Leong Assurance Bhd (HLA) and Hong Leong MSIG Takaful Bhd (HLMT) were seen to be related to the new standard coming on stream in 2018.