According to the Canadian insurance giant’s full-year results, its Asia division generated insurance sales of $1.2bn in 2011, despite a 4% year-on-year decline in the fourth quarter.
The fall in the final three months largely reflected weaker performance in Japan, where sales were down 17% following price increases on Manulife’s New Whole Life product earlier in the year. Hong Kong saw a 3% decline during the period, as sales of the company’s unit-linked insurance products were affected by volatility in the equity markets.
But despite a difficult end to 2011, full-year insurance sales for Japan and Hong Kong were both up, by 13% and 8% respectively. In the rest of Asia, full-year sales rose by 19%, with record levels achieved in Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam; and Singapore recording “solid growth”.
Growth across the region was aided by an expansion to 50,000 in the number of contracted agents selling Manulife products – up by 18% on the end of 2010 – with a record number of agents in Hong Kong, Vietnam, China, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Distribution was further expanded by the company’s decision to sign six new bancassurance arrangements in 2011, in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, China and Taiwan.
“I am pleased with our results in the fourth quarter and all of 2011,” said Robert Cook, the firm’s senior executive vice-president and general manager for Asia. “The positioning of our businesses to take advantage of economic and demographic trends in Asia has never been better.”
As International Adviser reported, the number of full-time agents selling Manulife insurance products in Hong Kong hit 5,000 at the end of 2011, following the company’s announcement last year that it is seeking a greater share of Hong Kong’s mandatory provident fund market.
