Great Eastern sets sights on expanding high-net-worth capabilities, doubling new business value
The listed insurer is looking to capitalise on Asia’s unprecedented wealth creation
[SINGAPORE] Great Eastern Life – the oldest and longest-established life insurance group in Singapore and Malaysia – has signalled plans to significantly grow its profitability.
“We do have an ambition to double our new business value (NBV) over the medium to long term,” Greg Hingston, Great Eastern Life’s group chief executive officer, told The Business Times at the group’s 117th anniversary on Tuesday (Aug 26).
For life insurers, NBV refers to the present value of future profits from new business written during the year.
The way Hingston sees it, much of this new business could be generated by leveraging Asia’s unprecedented wealth creation, led by affluent and high-net-worth clients. He sees a “meaningful” opportunity for Great Eastern in the high-net-worth space. “We are relatively underweight in that at the moment, and yet it’s a very fast-growing part of the market; so that is something that we will be very focused on,” he added.
Operating across life, health, general insurance, and asset management, Great Eastern has more than 15.5 million policyholders and S$117 billion in assets. The group aims to expand consumption across its product lines, moving from a vertical to a more horizontal approach with customers.
Wealth, Hingston noted, is not just about investments and also encompasses holistic wealth management, in which insurance plays an implicit but essential role.
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This is where Great Eastern is able to draw on Bank of Singapore’s (BOS) private banking network, OCBC’s retail and commercial banking base which includes a pool of business owners, and Great Eastern’s own financial advisers, many of whom are well connected to high-net-worth clients.
For instance, Hingston explained that OCBC is focused on developing retirement planning solutions as part of its broader wealth management strategy and has been vocal about expanding its wealth business.
He also described working with BOS a “fairly embryonic opportunity” where there is a lot more that the insurer can do there as well.
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In this context, distribution for products catering to high-net-worth clients will continue to be driven through the insurer’s bancassurance partnerships alongside its own advisory capabilities. “It’s going to be a combination of genuine white space, where we can bring something to the market that will be new,” Hingston said.
Currently, Great Eastern has a well-established arrangement with OCBC that is being further strengthened. The insurer is also reviewing how BOS’ brokered model could evolve.
One option under consideration is the introduction of in-house insurance specialists within BOS to provide clients with direct expertise.
Over the longer term, and subject to an extension of Great Eastern Financial Advisers’ licence, the insurer also aims to incorporate both BOS and OCBC solutions into the portfolio available to its top-tier advisers. Hingston said: “We want to make sure that we are where the customer is and where the customer wants to consume.”
When asked how Great Eastern plans to differentiate its high-net-worth offerings from other players, he replied that the insurer is shifting to a “customer-led model, deep customer understanding model approach going forward, using technology to access and think about things in a different way”.
Based on his experience across banking, insurance, and financial services, he noted that such a model has not yet been applied as extensively in insurance, which he believes will set Great Eastern apart. He added that the insurer also benefits from being part of a larger financial group. “There is huge upside from working with the group and leveraging the synergies that do exist.”
Failed takeover bid “does not make any difference”
Great Eastern’s 117th anniversary celebrations come on the heels of a failed takeover bid by parent company OCBC and its resumption of trading on the Singapore Exchange last week, after a proposed bonus share issue lifted its free float above 10 per cent. It was suspended from trading in July 2024 after its free float fell below 10 per cent.
In response to media queries at the anniversary event, Hingston noted that the status of the takeover or the delisting issue “does not make any difference” as it has no impact on the insurer’s strategic focus and how it would look to extract value from the wider OCBC group.
He told BT that OCBC, as the majority shareholder, remains integral to the insurer’s ability to drive value.
Against this backdrop, Hingston outlined the three core themes that Great Eastern Life is focusing on: developing tailored offerings and engagement for all customers; delivering advisory and service excellence through digital tools and platforms including artificial intelligence solutions; and fostering an organisation and culture that supports a future-ready workforce. “The world is changing rapidly around us and we need to be able to embrace that as we go forward,” he said.
Refreshed corporate logo
This forward-looking approach is also reflected in Great Eastern’s refreshed corporate logo. The insurer has evolved its lion motif to “convey a greater gravitas”, and revised its tagline to “An OCBC Company”.
The refreshed logo will be rolled out progressively across digital platforms to customer communications and physical locations.
Hingston told BT that the brand refresh is “part of a natural evolution of the company”. He noted that the last refresh was about 20 years ago. “We now operate in a world that is much more digital than before, and we want the new logo to represent a more progressive, modern view and show up well across different mediums,” he added.
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