Flight attendants turned insurance agents boost new policy sales to a five-year high in Hong Kong
- Total sales of new life policies in Hong Kong jumped 25 per cent to HK$166.8 billion (US$21.38 billion) in 2021
- Prudential, Manulife and AIA last year hired former flight attendants and ground crew because of their experience in dealing with customers
Life insurance sales in Hong Kong jumped 25 per cent last year, the highest since 2016, after insurance firms bolstered staff numbers by recruiting flight attendants laid off amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Total sales of new policies stood at HK$166.8 billion (US$21.38 billion), according to data from the Insurance Authority on Friday. It was the biggest annual growth after 39.8 per cent five years ago and a sharp reversal from a 23 per cent slump in 2020.
The company was the number one seller last year with a market share at 18.3 per cent, Insurance Authority data showed.
However, some of the airline staff were quick to find new jobs as several major insurers such as Prudential, Manulife and AIA last year hired them because of their hospitality training and experience in dealing face-to-face with customers.
The increased hiring boosted the total number of Hong Kong-based insurance sales staff by 5 per cent to a record 129,939 at the end of May, according to data from the Insurance Authority.
Manulife said it expanded its salesforce by 9 per cent to 11,600 in 2021.
The strong growth in local sales offset the drop in business by mainlanders. Mainland Chinese – the biggest spenders on Hong Kong insurance policies before the pandemic brought cross border traffic to standstill over the past two years – forked out 89 per cent less in 2021 after a slump of 84 per cent in 2020, the authority’s data showed.
They spent HK$688 million, or 0.4 per cent of the total, on life and medical insurance policies in Hong Kong in 2021, the lowest in a decade. At the peak in 2016, they bought HK$72.68 billion worth of policies, representing 39 per cent of all premiums collected in the city.
The number of mainland visitors to the city dropped 98 per cent to 65,921 last year, according to the Hong Kong Tourism Board.
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HSBC Life, which cornered a market share of 17.4 per cent last year, reported a 20 per cent growth in new business.
The strong growth was a result of the company’s resilient hybrid distribution model in a difficult environment, said Daisy Tsang, chief distribution and customer officer at the Hong Kong office of HSBC Life.
“Going forward, we will continue to meet our customers’ needs across a range of face to face, remote virtual and digital channels,” she added.
