AIA Group profit rose 5% to US$3.2b in H1 2021

Its value of new business rose 22% to US$1.8b in the same period.

The insurance group, AIA Group Ltd., posted a 5% increase in operating profit after tax for the first half to US$3.2b from US$2.9b in the same period last year due to growth in operations in China and Southeast Asia.

The company’s value of new business (VONB) also recorded a 22% growth to US$1.8b, with all segments exceeding pre-pandemic levels except Hong Kong.

“AIA has delivered very strong VONB growth of 22% and an increase in all of our key financial metrics. I am very pleased that VONB exceeded the pre-pandemic levels of the first half of 2019 for each of our reportable segments except Hong Kong, where travel restrictions continue to affect sales to Mainland Chinese visitors,” AIA’s Group Chief Executive and President Lee Yuan Siong said.

Lee said the company’s focus on technology “has significantly improved resilience in the face of ongoing pandemic containment measures.” 

“Compared to the first half of 2020, our Premier Agency has increased both agent productivity and our number of active agents. We have delivered a 25% increase in our registered Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) members to more than 16,000. This is our seventh consecutive year of achieving the largest number of registered MDRT members globally,” he said.

AIA China remained the largest contributor to the group’s VONB with a 20% growth on a like-on-like basis, noting that they also made “rapid progress” in expansion in Mainland China with new operations in Sichuan Province and the following the regulatory approval to prepare for a branch in Hubei Province.

Its Hong Kong business still achieved a 16% VONB growth in the domestic customer segment, despite limited sales to Mainland Chinese visitors due to travel restrictions. 

The Macau branch, meanwhile, one-third of its annualised new premiums during the period were from Mainland Chinese visitors, due to the resumption of the Individual Visit Scheme.

Its business in Thailand also saw a 52% growth in VONB year-on-year, whilst Singapore and Malaysia reported 32% and 89% year-on-year VONB growth.

Its enterprise value equity also rose 5% to US$70.1b from end-2020, whilst its interim dividend rose 8.6% to 38.00 Hong Kong cents per share.