Australia's Helia slumps after top client CBA plans to look for alternatives

Helia

19/06/2024 03:21

** Shares of Helia Group Ltd  HLI.AX  fall as much as 18% to
A$3.460, marking their worst intraday drop since late June 2021
    ** Shares of Helia, which provides lenders mortgage
insurance (LMI), were top losers in the ASX 200 benchmark index
 .AXJO 
    ** Helia stock falls to lowest level since last November
    ** Stock trades 17.6% lower at A$3.48, as of 0209 GMT
    ** More than 2.7 mln shares change hands, vs the 30-day
average of 754,000 shares
    ** Helia says top client and Australia's no. 1 bank,
Commonwealth Bank of Australia  CBA.AX , informed it of its
intention to issue request for proposal for its external LMI
requirements for the whole group
    ** Helia provides insurance to CBA's home loans where
borrowers have made a lower down-payment; CBA contract accounted
for about 53% of HLI's gross written premiums in FY23
    ** Helia stock up 4.4% this year, as of last close, vs a
2.5% increase in the ASX 200 benchmark index

 (Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru)
 ((Sameer.Manekar@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: https://twitter.com/sameer_manekar))