Rating Rationale
December 29, 2016 | Mumbai
SBI Life Insurance Company Limited
 Rating Reaffirmed
 
Financial Strength Rating AAA/Stable (Reaffirmed)

CRISIL's financial strength rating on SBI Life Insurance Company Limited (SBI Life) continues to reflect strong support from State Bank of India (SBI; rated 'CRISIL AAA1/FAAA/Stable/CRISIL A1+'). The rating also factors in the company's position as one of the leading private sector life insurance companies and the benefits it derives from accessing the wide branch network of the SBI group to sell its insurance products. These rating strengths are partially offset by challenges expected in maintaining growth and sustaining profitability amid potential regulatory changes and rising competition.
 
SBI Life has strong linkage with SBI driven by majority ownership and a shared name. The strong linkage implies a moral obligation on SBI's part to support SBI Life in the event of need. The bank's presence in the insurance sector is through SBI Life, which is, therefore, one of the critical subsidiaries for SBI. Furthermore, SBI's commitment to SBI Life is ensured as life insurance also handles public savings and is a very sensitive sector, and the success or failure of this segment can have wide implications for SBI's brand image.
 
Furthermore, SBI Life derives significant capital, managerial, and operational support from the parent. The company has the financial flexibility to raise capital whenever necessary, as both its parents, SBI and BNP Paribas Cardif (rated 'A-/ Stable' by S&P Global Ratings) are committed to and capable of, infusing capital, in proportion to their ownership. SBI and SBI Life have a common chairperson, with the latter's managing director holding the rank of deputy managing director at SBI. Also, three additional members of the board of SBI Life are from SBI's senior management team. In addition, the bank has demonstrated operational support by letting the subsidiary access the SBI group's network of branches and customers for selling insurance products. Furthermore, the company has access to the group's large employee strength to sell insurance products; this strategy helps it save operating expenses, resulting in the lowest operating expense ratio2 among private life insurance companies. SBI Life is the largest life insurance company in the private sector space; the company's market share, based on new business premium, was 5.1% in fiscal 2016. It continues to benefit from its extensive industry expertise, as it has been in operation for more than a decade and has a presence across all the states and union territories in India.
 
Insurance companies, including SBI Life, have overcome the regulatory overhaul on unit-linked insurance plans (ULIPs) and traditional products in the past few years. The proportion of ULIPs in new business premiums for SBI Life has increased to 45.5% in fiscal 2016 from 35% in fiscal 2015 due to improvement in capital market conditions and reduction in surrenders of old ULIP policies. As regulatory changes have meaningful impact on growth and profitability, the ability to adjust to the regulations and maintain profitability will be a key monitorable. Additionally, there are signs of consolidation in the industry that could have competitive challenges and impact growth. CRISIL believes ability to generate underwriting profit and manage the investment portfolio to earn adequate returns will determine profitability over the long term.

Outlook: Stable

CRISIL believes SBI Life will continue to receive strong financial and operational support from SBI and BNP Paribas Cardif over the long term. Also, SBI Life will continue to benefit from the SBI group's low-cost distribution channel. The outlook may be revised to 'Negative' if, in CRISIL's opinion, there is a diminution in SBI Life's strategic importance to SBI, translating into a potential reduction in support from SBI, or weakening, in CRISIL's view, of SBI's credit risk profile.

About the Company

SBI Life was set up in 2001 as a joint venture between SBI and BNP Paribas Cardif following the privatisation of India's insurance industry. SBI has a 74% shareholding in SBI Life (shareholding to drop to 70.1% after the stake sell to KKR and Co LP and Temasek Holdings Private Limited, while BNP Paribas Cardif holds the remaining 26%. BNP Paribas Cardif is a wholly owned subsidiary of BNP Paribas, which is a leading bank in Europe. BNP Paribas Cardif ranks among the top 10 European insurers and is the world leader in credit insurance. It develops and markets its products and services through multiple partners and has a presence in 36 countries. In 2015, BNP Paribas Cardif earned a gross written premium of EUR 22.1 billion and net operating income (pre-tax) of EUR 759 million, as against EUR 21.1 billion and EUR 761 million, respectively, for the previous year. It had a solvency ratio of 154% as on December 31, 2015. SBI Life is uniquely positioned to tap the vast potential in India's life insurance sector by harnessing the SBI group's large branch network. The company tied up with BNP Paribas Cardif because of the latter's expertise in selling insurance through the financial institutions channel (bancassurance).
 
Profit after tax (PAT) was Rs 8.6 billion in fiscal 2016, against PAT of Rs 8.2 billion in fiscal 2015. In the half year ended September 30, 2016, PAT was Rs 4.3 billion against Rs 4.1 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year. As on March 31, 2016, networth was Rs 47.3 billion, and solvency margin 2.1 times.


 1Tier I Bond Issue (under Basel III) is rated 'CRISIL AA+/Stable'
 2 Operating expense as a percentage of net premiums earned

 

Links to related criteria
Rating Criteria for Life Insurance Companies
Criteria for Notching up Stand Alone Ratings of Companies based on Parent Support

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