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Indonesia to Disband Oldest Life Insurer After $2.4 Billion Deal

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Heavy traffic during a morning commuting hours in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023. Jakarta, the city that's home to more than 10 million people, has suffered air pollution at unhealthy levels in the past few weeks, with IQAir recently ranking it as the worlds most polluted city. Photographer: Muhammad Fadli/Bloomberg (Muhammad Fadli/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- The Indonesian government will disband troubled state insurer PT Asuransi Jiwasraya in September after clinching a deal with policyholders, according to a government official.

The country’s oldest insurer reached a deal with 99.7% of policyholders to transfer their policies to insurance holding firm PT Asuransi Jiwa IFG, said Arya Sinulingga, a special staff at State-Owned Enterprises Ministry, by a text message on Friday. “This is the biggest restructuring ever in the history of Indonesia’s insurance industry,” he said.

The transfered policies were valued at 38 trillion rupiah ($2.4 billion), local news outlet Antara reported, citing a Financial Services Authority official.

Jiwasraya was founded as a Dutch-owned entity in 1859 and was nationalized by the Indonesian government in 1960.

A 2016 audit revealed violations of investment guidelines that eventually led to a negative equity of more than 28 trillion rupiah, prompting the government to begin work to rescue the company. Its near collapse hurt more than 7 million clients across the country.

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