From Colombo to Dhaka: Softlogic Life Buys Into Bangladesh's Insurance Frontier

In July 2026, Sri Lanka's Softlogic Life Insurance PLC completed a USD 1.9 million deal that made history on both sides of the Bay of Bengal: a 60% stake in Dhaka's Diamond Life Insurance Company — the first acquisition of a Bangladeshi life insurer by an overseas insurer, and the first overseas acquisition by any Sri Lankan life insurer.

‍

Softlogic Life arrives with credentials to match the ambition. Sri Lanka's largest health insurer and second-largest life insurer, it has grown tenfold over the past decade — 26% compound annual premium growth against an industry average of 16% — while settling of claims within a day, a first for any Sri Lankan insurer. Bangladesh's appeal is arithmetic as much as ambition. Insurance penetration sits at just 0.3% of GDP against a regional average of 1.2% — at regional norms, a USD 4 billion industry rather than today's fraction of it. Some 800,000 Bangladeshis travel abroad annually for treatment, spending roughly USD 5 billion outside the country, a gap Softlogic knows how to close.

‍

Rather than build from scratch, Softlogic bought in: the Share Purchase Agreement for Diamond Life, established 2014, was signed on 18 June and completed within weeks, clearing regulatory approvals as BIDA (now Invest Bangladesh) and Bangladesh Bank keep simplifying entry and exit for foreign investors. Softlogic Life becomes only the third foreign insurer in Bangladesh's life market, after MetLife and LIC, and plans to bring its one-day claims standard, AI-driven processing and a broader product suite to Diamond Life's customers.

‍

Over the past decade we have built a business on financial discipline, customer trust and consistent execution — resulting in ten-fold growth, market leadership in health insurance, and the fastest claims settlement in Sri Lanka. We are confident that Bangladesh will benefit from our dynamic business model.

‍

‍

‍

Iftikar Ahamed, Managing Director, Soflogic Life Insurance PLC.