LONDON (Bloomberg) — HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's biggest bank by market value, plans to start selling life insurance next month through a joint venture in India.

The venture, owned with Canara Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce, is licensed to sell eight life-insurance and savings products and is "going very well," Clive Bannister, HSBC's London-based head of insurance, said in an interview today. It got regulatory approval last week.

The bank, which bought a 10 percent stake in Bao Viet Insurance & Finance Group in September for $255 million, will use its option to buy an additional 8 percent by June 2009, he said.