The high volume of merger and acquisition activities in the Malaysia financial services sectors is expected to continue in 2012, particularly in the area of insurance, a PricewaterhouseCoopers official has said.
According to Malaysian publication, The Edge, PWC's Malaysian executive director Angie Wong said the local insurance scene would continue to be spurred by low penetration rates in the life insurance market as well as the fragmented general insurance business, thanks to a relatively mature rating environment.
The government's decision to liberalise ownership structures in the insurance and other service sub-sectors in 2009, which raised the celling for foreign shareholding to 70% from 49% , also helped raise the appeal of the Malaysian markets to foreign players, she is quoted as saying.
Wong also said the introduction of the Risk-Based Capital framework too had perhaps assisted in spurring M&A activities, though it may not be the main driving force behind local insurers seeking strategic partners, according to The Edge.
Wong told the publication her view of increased M&A activity was backed by findings of a recent survey conducted by her firm with regards to the prospect of M&A's in the financial services industry in Malaysia in the next 12 months.
No comments:
Post a Comment