ING Canada and Zurich North America Canada have received the final regulatory approvals required to establish their strategic alliance.

Under the terms of the alliance, announced Nov. 22, 2001, ING will acquire Zurich’s Canadian personal property and casualty insurance operations, and the two companies will focus on their areas of expertise in underwriting commercial and corporate lines.

In addition, each company will now be able to offer its product lines to each other’s distributors and customers.

The alliance gives ING and Zurich a combined 15% share of the Canadian P&C market. It consolidates ING’s position as a leading insurer with a 12% share of the Canadian market. It also confirms Zurich’s position as the industry leader in corporate and large commercial lines with a 21% share of that market.

The approvals allow the two companies to distribute their products and services through about two-thirds of Canadian brokerages. They also formalize the agreement to transfer about 1,000 Zurich employees to ING.