ASIA-FOCUSED insurer Prudential recorded new business profit of US$2.3 billion for the nine months ended September 2024.
This is up 11 per cent on a constant exchange rate basis and including economic impacts. Excluding economic impacts, new business profit, on a constant exchange rate basis, for the period would have been up 9 per cent.
On Wednesday (Nov 6), the group said in a business update that its multi-channel distribution model has driven broad-based new business profit growth, including in Greater China, Asean and Africa.
Annual premium equivalent (APE) sales – a measure of new business activity – rose 7 per cent, on a constant exchange rate basis, to US$4.6 billion in the nine months ended September. It was up 10 per cent from US$4.4 billion in the same period last year.
The increase in APE was driven by growth from Hong Kong, mainland China and Thailand, with the level of growth moderating in Taiwan, said Prudential.
Prudential chief executive Anil Wadhwani said the new business momentum had continued in the third quarter.
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The insurer said it was on track for the expected 2024 new business profit growth trajectory of 9 to 13 per cent.
Prudential has also entered into a long-term partnership with Bank Syariah Indonesia, the biggest Islamic lender in Indonesia providing access to about 20 million customers, said Wadhwani.
Prudential has also taken full ownership of its Nigeria life operations, he added.
By geography, the insurer’s Hong Kong business delivered 8 per cent growth in new business profit for the first nine months of 2024 – driven by improved new business margins following pricing actions undertaken earlier this year.
Sales to both domestic customers and mainland Chinese visitors also grew in the three months to Sep 30, said Prudential.
In Singapore, new business profit for the nine months grew 15 per cent, underpinned by a 14 per cent increase in APE sales.
Meanwhile, new business profit in Malaysia was 6 per cent lower on the year, while APE sales was up 7 per cent. “Margins were lower given the channel mix shift in the period,” said the insurer.
“Agency sales in the conventional life business declined year on year as we took repricing actions to both protect the value of the ‘in force’ business and so that new business can be written more profitably, amid high medical inflation in the country,” it added.
Shares of Prudential ended Tuesday flat at US$8.65 on the Singapore Exchange.
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