Lifestyle protection provides products and services for financial services firms to sell to customers at the point they are making a financial commitment.
The credit-linked products would be sold alongside a mortgage, credit card or car loan, for example, to protect customers if they were unable to make a payment.
Sky News reported that private equity firm JC Flowers was interested in acquiring the division.
In a statement from Genworth, it confirmed that Genworth leadership in the US had identified the lifestyle protection business as falling outside its main business focus in October 2012. It reported at the time that it intended to sell the division ‘in the next two to three years and as economic and business conditions permit’.
Mortgage insurance Europe for Genworth, the division responsible for providing mortgage lenders with insurance to protect them against not being able to recover a loan from the proceeds of a property, is not being put up for sale.
In its results released in February, Genworth confirmed it was progressing the sale process.
According to Sky, in the same set of results, the company reported a $1.6bn loss in the second half of last year because it did not have enough money set aside to cover pay-outs on long-term care policies.
JC Flowers owns a stake in One Savings Bank, parent company of Kent Reliance.