Exclusive | How FWD married two of Richard Li’s ‘loves’ to create Hong Kong’s only home-grown, pan-Asian insurer
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A serendipitous meeting more than 10 years ago between a telecoms titan and a former Vietnamese refugee at Hong Kong’s exclusive Causeway Bay yacht club sowed the seeds for an insurance company that today covers against risks in seven countries along the ancient Silk Road.
On Monday, FWD marks its 10th anniversary, and Huynh can vividly recall his pivotal conversation with Li, their meeting serving as a catalyst for the founding of the only home-grown Hong Kong-based pan-Asian insurer.
The purpose of the meeting was to talk about an investment Huynh had made in Vietnam years earlier, Huynh recounted in a recent interview with the Post. The discussion, however, turned to the establishment of a pan-Asian insurance company.
Recognising the prevalence of national champions, they identified a gap in the market – the absence of a successful pan-regional insurer. “We looked at each other and came to the conclusion that it was the right time to [set up such a firm],” Huynh said.
Li confided in Huynh about his two passions at the meeting. “I have two loves, the internet and e-commerce and life insurance, but they have never met,” Huynh cited Li as saying.
