Sale of life risk insurance book in Spain to Vidacaixa

Barclays has completed the sale and transfer of its Spanish life risk insurance book to Vidacaixa, S.A.U. de Seguros y Reaseguros, a member of the Caixa Group.

As part of the agreement, 105,000 insurance policies and c.€70m of insurance liabilities (together with their related assets) will transfer to the purchaser. The sale represents further progress against Barclays' cost and risk weighted assets (RWAs) education targets. Neither party will be disclosing further financial terms of the deal.

Up until the beginning of 2016, Barclays Vida y Pensiones Compañía de Seguros, S.A.U. (BVP) provided life insurance and pension products in Spain, Italy and Portugal. BVP sold its Spanish pensions assets and liabilities to Vidacaixa in June 2016. This year it has also sold its Portuguese insurance business to Bankinter Seguros de Vida, and its Italian life insurance business to CNP Assurances.

Barclays completed the sale of its Spanish retail bank to CaixaBank S.A. in January 2015, and announced the proposed sale of its Barclaycard consumer payments business in Spain and Portugal to Bancopopular-e in April 2016. Barclays continues to operate investment banking and corporate banking services for global companies in Spain.

Commenting on the sale, Harry Harrison, Head of Barclays Non-Core, said: “We continue to make good progress with the sale of non-core assets, reducing RWAs within the unit and simplifying Barclays overall. In the last month, we have announced the sales of Barclays Bank Egypt, our UK Trusts business, and a loan portfolio in Italy.”