Zurich Financial Services Australia (Zurich) has announced it has made an offer to purchase ClearView Wealth Limited, the listed parent company of ClearView Life.
ClearView directors have given the proposal from Zurich their unanimous support. The deal remains subject to approval by shareholders and regulatory authorities, expected to be obtained by the third quarter of 2026.
Given that growth in the Australian life insurance market has only been 0.3% for the year ended 30th September 2025, buying an established life insurance business has obvious appeal.
Zurich is currently the third largest life insurance company in Australia with a 15.1% market share. With the acquisition of ClearView, which has in force premiums of around $419 million, this share will increase to 17.4%, behind AIA at 18.2% and dominant player TAL at 33.6%.
With the recent merger of MLC Life and Resolution Life under the Acenda brand owned by Nippon Life, this will mean that the top four life insurance companies will account for over 83% of market share in Australia.
The question is whether Zurich will continue to maintain the ClearView products open for business as a separate option for consumers. Zurich acquired the OnePath Life insurance business from ANZ back in 2019 and has continued to operate the OnePath brand side by side with the Zurich product offering.
ClearView was established in 2010 and launched its ClearView LifeSolutions range of life insurance products in 2011. This was replaced by its current ClearChoice product range in October 2021.
ClearView have consistently topped customer review ratings on the Insurance Watch website, ranking strongly for overall value, features and benefits and claims experience.
Geoff Black, ClearView Chair, said he believed that Zurich and ClearView were “highly complementary brands” and Zurich would continue “delivering ClearView’s ClearChoice product that protects what is most important to Australians.”
Zurich has the backing of the global Zurich Insurance Group which services more than 82 million customers worldwide.
Justin Delaney, Zurich Australia & New Zealand Chief Executive Officer, said “The proposed transaction brings together Zurich’s strong capital foundation with ClearView’s established in-market product and advice relationships and represents a clear opportunity to develop the customer experience and competitive offering in the Australian life insurance market.”
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Life insurance companies in Australia
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