As Chinese visitors return to Hong Kong and snap up insurance policies again, the nation’s largest life insurer is stepping up efforts to seize a bigger share.
China Life Insurance (Overseas) Co., the overseas arm of state-owned China Life Insurance (Group) Co., said it’s exploring ways to upgrade services for mainland clients and hiring agents that exclusively target the group, after they helped drive a 136% jump in new-business premiums in the first four months.
China’s reopening after Covid has brought back mainland tourists to the Asian financial hub after three years of travel restrictions. Insurance sales to mainland visitors jumped nearly 28 times in the first quarter to HK$9.6 billion ($1.2 billion), about 75% of the level recorded for the same period in 2019, bolstering the performance of China Life (Overseas) and global competitors including Prudential Plc and AIA Group Ltd.
The contribution of mainland customers grew to 15% of new business premiums this year through May 23, from just 4% in January, according to Lu Fangbing, deputy head of the company’s strategic planning department. That compares with an industry average of 4.7% in the final quarter of last year amid the pandemic.
“Mainland clients are a very important, new growth point,” she said in a phone interview from Hong Kong. “We expect the growth to continue as the visits of clients would take time.”
The offshore arm, based in Hong Kong where it ranked the fourth largest by total premiums in the first quarter, also has offices in Macau, Singapore and Indonesia. China Life Insurance (Group), the parent, runs its mainland business through the listed China Life Insurance Co., which reported a 7.7% gain in new business value in the first quarter as the local market recovered, reversing a 20% decline last year.
To better capture the potential, the overseas arm is seeking to expand its agent force to tap mainland buyers, Lu said without providing details. Bancassurance remains its main distribution channel, contributing about 70% of sales.
The firm is also making preparations to roll out more convenient services once regulators start such trials in the Greater Bay Area, she said. China should allow Hong Kong-based insurers to send claim payments directly to clients’ mainland bank accounts, the Shanghai Securities News reported in March, citing an AIA International Ltd. executive.
China Life (Overseas) won approval from China’s newly-formed financial regulator to boost its registered capital by about 58% to 11 billion yuan ($1.5 billion), according to a statement posted on the watchdog’s website June 16.