Insurer AIA Group's third-quarter new business value falls 5% (updated)

AIA

29/10/2026 23:43

Recasts paragraph 1 and adds third-quarter details throughout
Oct 30 (Reuters) - Hong Kong-based insurer AIA Group 1299.HK reported a 5% drop in its third-quarter value of new business on Friday, as growth moderated from an "exceptionally high" level a year earlier.

        Mainland China, AIA's second-largest market in terms of new business sales, reported a 33% fall in the value of new business (VONB) in the three months ended September 30, reflecting a high base of prior-year comparison when customers brought forward purchases ahead of industry-wide repricing in September last year.
VONB from mainland China was also hurt by a double-digit decline in the new business value of its bancassurance segment.
AIA Hong Kong saw a 3% decline in new business value, impacted by strong sales in July last year. 
Some Chinese mainland visitor customers adopted a wait-and-see approach amid extensive news coverage of offshore investments, the company said.
Earlier this year, the Chinese authorities started imposing a 20% tax on returns from Hong Kong insurance policies held by mainland residents.
As a result, the insurer's VONB, which gauges expected profits from new premiums and is a key barometer for future growth, fell to $1.42 billion on a constant exchange rate basis in the quarter, compared with $1.48 billion a year ago.
"The run-up to these results featured an intense discussion of the pressures created by last year's +40% growth in Hong Kong, so this contraction was near-universally expected," said Jefferies.

 (Reporting by Keshav Singh Chundawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
 ((Keshav.SinghChundawat@thomsonreuters.com;))