Canadian insurer Sun Life eyes Hong Kong expansion after reporting strong second-quarter growth
- Sun Life’s new policy sales in Hong Kong rose fourfold in the second quarter, with sales to mainland Chinese visitors also increasing
- The insurer’s profit in Asia rose 25 per cent in the second quarter to US$111.9 million
Canadian insurer Sun Life Financial plans to increase its roster of agents in Hong Kong and use the city as a launch pad to expand into other Asian markets to capture growing opportunities in the region, according to its Asia head.
“We are based in Hong Kong, which is our regional headquarters,” said Ingrid Johnson, president of Sun Life Asia, in an interview. “It has served us extremely well because Hong Kong is a fantastic location from where we can travel around the region easily.”
The insurer has wholly owned operations in the Philippines, Vietnam and Singapore, as well as joint ventures in Malaysia, India and mainland China. The company has been operating in Asia for 131 years, serving 25 million clients across the region with its army of 30,000 employees and 97,000 financial advisers.
Sun Life’s planned expansion matches the vision of Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, who wants more international insurers to base themselves in the city to oversee their Asia operations.
“We certainly would like to see more cross-selling of products among our customers,” Johnson said. “We have over 1 million clients in Hong Kong, but less than 20 per cent have life, health and wealth with us. So that is an opportunity.”
In April, Sun Life opened a 23,000 sq ft customer centre at The Gateway in the tourist hotspot of Tsim Sha Tsui, joining peers such as HSBC Life, Manulife, Prudential and Standard Chartered who have set up such dedicated customer centres over the past two years to tap wealthy clients.