Sun Life Financial plans to hire more agents and expand new sales channels in Hong Kong to capture a bigger slice of the wealth management and retirement markets in Asia, according to its regional chief.
“We are partnering more with private banks in Hong Kong to address the overall financial planning needs of these customers,” said Manjit Singh, president of Sun Life Asia, in an interview. “There is a big need to help the high-net-worth customers with intergenerational financial planning, inheritance or liquidity management.”
The Canadian insurer expanded its pool of sales agents by 50 per cent to 3,000 last year in Hong Kong to prepare for a post-pandemic influx of mainland Chinese visitors. Its new insurance premiums rose 330 per cent between 2019 and 2024, lifting its ranking to fifth from 12th in terms of new policies in Hong Kong, according to industry data.
Its client base and premiums from wealthy clients in Hong Kong grew eightfold in that period.
Sun Life has about C$1.5 trillion (US$1.05 trillion) of assets under management globally. It operates in eight markets in Asia including Hong Kong, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore, and is part of joint ventures in mainland China and India. The group has been doing business in Asia for 133 years, serving 30 million clients through 92,000 agents and 27 banking partners.
Mainland visitors to Hong Kong have been a big source of growth for global insurers, Singh said. Nearly 60 per cent of high-net-worth individuals in Greater China use insurance policies to transfer their wealth to the next generation, according to a Manulife and Deloitte survey in February.
