GREAT Eastern : G07 0% reported a 21 per cent increase in net profit to S$180.2 million for the third quarter ended September, compared to S$149.3 million in the same period last year.

This came on the back of a 5 per cent increase in total weighted new sales to S$419.4 million, driven by Singapore sales due to new product launches, said the insurance arm of OCBC on Wednesday (Nov 1).

The group’s new business embedded value stood at S$183.7 million, 8 per cent lower than the S$198.7 million in the corresponding quarter last year.

It noted that the lower new business embedded value for Q3 despite higher total weighted new sales was largely driven by lower margins in Singapore.

For the three quarters, net profit increased 65 per cent to S$617.4 million. This was led by higher profit in the Singapore Life business and favourable investment performance in the shareholders’ fund.

“Our underlying insurance business is healthy, though dampened by higher-than-expected medical claims in Singapore and Malaysia,” said the group.

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Profit from insurance business of the nine months registered a 14 per cent increase at S$543.5 million, while profit from shareholders’ fund reversed from a loss of S$103.9 million to an S$84.8 million gain.

The investment increase was attributable to “mark-to-market” gain in equities and collective investment schemes in the nine months, compared to a loss a year earlier.

Total weighted new sales for the first three quarters decreased 21 per cent to S$1.1 billion, because of lower single premium sales from the Singapore market during the first three quarters.

Correspondingly, the lower sales volume led its new business embedded value to fall 9 per cent to S$534.9 million.

However, the group noted that margins improved across core markets compared to 2022. Its new business embedded value margin recorded a 6.1 percentage point increase to 46.7 per cent in the nine months.

Great Eastern’s chief executive Khor Hock Seng highlighted some key initiatives across the Singapore and Malaysia markets to deliver sustainable value to shareholders.

“We remain positive on the long-term outlook of our business, even as we navigate the present inflationary and interest rate challenges.”

Share of Great Eastern closed flat at S$17.27 on Wednesday.