Manulife Asia sees strong premium growth, new business in 2023

APE sales rose 15% to $3.3b for the year.

Manulife Asia reported strong growth in annualized premium equivalent (APE), core earnings, and new business contractual service margin (CSM), it stated in a press release.

Fourth quarter and full year APE sales in Asia rose by 11% and 15% to $731m and $3.3b, respectively, compared to the same periods in 2022.

APE sales were boosted by growth in Hong Kong, mainland China, and Singapore. The lifting of all COVID-19 containment measures in early 2023 led to a rise in demand across various markets in Asia, which in turn led to the overall increase.

Notably, in Hong Kong, full year APE sales rose 58%, attributed to strong growth in its broker, bancassurance, and agency channels. Manulife Asia also noted the return of demand from mainland Chinese visitors (MCV) following the reopening of borders.

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Mainland China full year APE sales increased 62%, reflecting growth across bancassurance and agency channels.

New business value (NBV) grew 5% in Q4 and 3% for 2023 on a year-over-year basis, to $306m in Q4 and $1.2b in 2023, respectively.

New business CSM also rose 27% in Q4 to $303m, and 16% for the whole year of 2023 to $1.1b.

Manulife Asia attributed the full year increase in NBV to growth in Hong Kong, mainland China, Japan and in its international high net worth business. This was partially offset by lower NBV from Vietnam and other emerging markets.