New business profit in the region grew by 15% to £775m, driven by APE sales growth of 14%.
In the third quarter alone, Asian sales rose by 17% to reach £548m, the highest so far this year, which the company puts down to a strong focus on health and protection in what it calls its “sweet spot” regions of Hong Kong and Singapore.
In Hong Kong, the company delivered sales growth of 36% to reach £424m. It said the performance came as a result of “strong momentum” across its product range, and increased levels of health and protection sales, as well as “continued demand” for its established participating products.
In Singapore, the company recorded sales of £258m, an increase of 9%, which it put down to an increase in agency volumes.
Chief executive, Tidjane Thiam, said: “Our diversification by country, product and distribution channel is at the heart of our Asia strategy and has enabled continued growth despite short-term challenges in some of our key countries in the region.
“Our long-term growth in the region is strong, underpinned by favourable structural dynamics in our chosen markets.”
As a whole, the group has seen new business profits of £1.5bn so far this year, up 17% on the same period in 2013.
Its US new business profit also increased 16% to £530m, while UK new business grew by 28% to £209m.
Thiam added: “Our performance in 2014 across geographies is strong: our disciplined execution of pursuing clearly defined long-term opportunities in Asia, the US, and the UK has continued to drive profitable growth, in spite of a challenging environment.”
The company added that the pension reforms announced in this year’s Budget, which are due to come into force in April next year, have resulted in an increasing proportion of customers deferring the decision to convert their pension savings into retirement income.
