Deutsche Bank weighs sale of Abbey Life -sources

FRANKFURT, Oct (HKSE: 3366-OL.HK - news) 12 (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank (Other OTC: DBAGF - news) is weighing the possible sale of its British insurance unit Abbey Life, several people familiar with the situation said on Monday, as Germany's biggest lender restructures itself to restore profitability.

A decision has yet to be taken and much depends on the outcome of discussions with regulators about the unit's capital base, the people said.

Bloomberg News reported that a sale could fetch up to 3 billion pounds ($4.6 billion). Deutsche Bank, which bought Abbey Life from Lloyds TSB for 977 million pounds in 2007, at the time around 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion), declined to comment.

Abbey Life, which closed to new business in 2000, is composed mainly of unit-linked life and pensions policies and annuities.

It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) had insurance reserves of around 17 billion euros at the time Deutsche Bank acquired it.

The development of those reserves in the intervening years would be decisive for the price in the event of a sale, the people familiar with the situation said.

Deutsche Bank Chief Executive John Cryan is due to announce details of its "Strategy 2020" revamp plan on Oct. 29.

($1 = 0.6515 pounds)

($1 = 0.8797 euros) (Reporting by Kathrin Jones and Alexander Huebner; writing by Jonathan Gould; editing by Jason Neely)