Life insurer and asset manager Challenger Ltd announced the sale of its banking subsidiary to Heartland Group in October 2022, saying it expected to complete the sale by the end of June 2023. But yesterday it disclosed that the transaction will not be completed until later this year. Challenger acquired authorised deposit-taking institution MyLifeMyFinance (since renamed Challenger Bank) in December 2020, looking to add term deposits to its range of annuities and other retirement income products.  But in August 2022, it announced: “Since announcing the bank acquisition, market conditions have changed and it is becoming apparent the bank is unlikely to realise the expected benefits in the timeframe anticipated.” When the sale to Heartland was announced, Challenger said it expected the sale price to be around A$36 million (subject to adjustments based on the net asset value), which is in line with the purchase price of $35 million. Yesterday, Challenger said that under its sale agreement with Heartland, Heartland became accountable for the bank’s operating losses from November 2023. It did not provide any explanation for the delay in completing the sale but said “the bank sale continues to progress”. According to the December half-year financial report released yesterday, Challenger has $346.8 million of bank lending and finance assets – down from $406.6 million in the previous corresponding period.  It has $287.2 million of bank deposit liabilities, compared with $224.1 million in the previous corresponding period.