AIA 2023 profit jumps 15%, buoyed by Hong Kong’s increasing sales of insurance policies to mainland Chinese visitors
- Hong Kong-based insurer’s annual net profit came in at US$3.76 billion, or 32.68 US cents per share
- The value of new business, an important measure of sales and future growth, rose 33 per cent to US$4.03 billion
AIA Group’s policy sales in Hong Kong and mainland China continued to grow in the first two months of the year, indicating strong momentum from last year is carrying over in the insurer’s two major markets, according to its top boss.
The company on Thursday reported a 15 per cent profit jump last year, benefiting from demand for insurance products from the return of mainland Chinese visitors to Hong Kong in search of better returns and as a hedge against a weakening yuan.
“We are seeing good momentum in Hong Kong driven by mainland Chinese visitors’ sales in the first two months of this year with double-digit growth,” said Lee Yuan Siong, AIA’s group chief executive and president, in a result media briefing.
He said mainland China saw the same trend of double-digit growth of new policy sales in the past two months, as a rising middle class and an aging population in mainland China led many customers to buy insurance products for protection and as a wealth-management tool, Lee said.
Hong Kong-based AIA, Asia’s largest insurer, reported a net profit of US$3.76 billion, or 32.68 US cents per share, according to an exchange filing on Thursday. Operating profit after tax, which excludes any valuation gain or loss in its investment portfolio, fell 1 per cent to US$6.21 billion.
