The expected asset sales were reported by Britain’s Sunday Times on the weekend, which said they were part of an attempt to cushion the blow of Zurich’s failed bid and to strengthen the firm’s balance sheet.
RSA has already sold operations throughout Asia and South America as part of Hester’s plan to revive the company after an accounting scandal at its Irish arm and a spate of profit warnings.
The FTSE-100 insurer is aiming to complete its strategic refocus by the time of the 2015 year end results announcement by which time it expects to end up with operations in Britain, Canada and Scandinavia, and smaller businesses in Germany and Ireland.
Zurich Insurance withdrew a £5.6bn ($8.8bn) all cash offer for RSA Insurance on 21 September, citing a deterioration in its own trading performance linked to the recent dockside explosions at the Chinese port of Tianjin and mounting automotive losses in the US.
Zurich also said that it was likely to report a £129m third-quarter trading loss.
