CaixaBank Buys Bankia Insurance From Mapfre

Spanish insurance firm Mapfre has sold Bankia’s insurance platform to CaixaBank for 571 million euros ($645 million), although the sides noted that an ongoing arbitration process could increase the price, according to a Reuters report Wednesday (Dec. 29).

CaixaBank, which took over Bankia in March, is paying 324 million euros ($367.7 million) for Mapfre’s 51% ownership stake in Bankia Vida life insurance offering, which it will combine with the 49% of the business it already owns.

The Spanish company will also pay 247 million euros ($280.3 million) to end a contract to distribute non-life insurance, Reuters reports, citing separate company filings.

Mapfre wants CaixaBank to pay 120% of Bankia’s value. The price it’s paid so far is 110% of the value, according to an independent adviser.

“The parts will submit to a process of arbitration an additional compensation for up to 52 million euros ($59 million),” Mapfre said in a statement. The deal will generate a 171 million euro ($194 million) profit that Mapfre plans to use to make its Spanish and Italian operations more efficient.

CaixaBank has said in the past that it expects no significant impact on its accounts in 2021 from the deal to acquire Bankia Vida, adding that its 49% stake in the life insurance business contributed 29 million euros ($32.9 million) in the nine months it was under the company’s control.

Related: CaxiaBank, bsurance Offer Embedded Life Insurance

In October, CaixaBank partnered with InsurTech platform bsurance to create and test new embedded life insurance offerings, part of CaixaBank’s open innovation program, Innsomnia. CaixaBank picked bsurance as one of eight startups to help test new products and solutions.

The other companies working with CaixaBank include GK8, Onyze, aQuantum, TAIGER, SmartBiometrik and Inspiration-Q. These European and Israeli startups were selected from 200 entrants from 28 nations.

As part of the collaboration, bsurance teamed up with the bank’s insurance arm, VidaCaixa, to integrate a digital-first product into the VidaCaixa portfolio, allowing CaixaBank to offer customers tailored life insurance products at the point of sale.