The CEO of Sun Life Hong Kong, Lin Jiayan, said that the company's performance in the first quarter was strong. The annualized premium equivalent (APE) for new business increased by 469% year-on-year to HKD 2.228 billion, outperforming the overall market growth of 57%. The industry ranking has risen from ninth in the same period last year to sixth in the first quarter. The first-quarter newly recorded premium through broker channels for new business was HKD 1.681 billion, a nearly tenfold increase year-on-year, while the insurance agent channel increased by 87%.
He pointed out that Sun Life Hong Kong's onshore new business in the first quarter was HKD 870 million, an increase of 225% year-on-year. High-net-worth client businesses also showed an upward trend, with policies with first-year premiums of HKD 10 million or more accounting for 25.8% of the total insured amount, up from 18.6% in the fourth quarter of last year. In addition, the number of customers in the first quarter increased by 3.2% year-on-year, reaching over 970,000.
Sun Life announced the launch of a high-end value-added service ECO system, covering three major service categories of body-power-travel, including a high-end medical network in cooperation with the Quality HealthCare Medical Services Group. Customers can use the eSun Bao health management service platform to access quality medical services provided by the Chinese University of Hong Kong Hospital, the Hong Kong Adventist Hospital, other private hospitals in Hong Kong, and private and tertiary public hospitals in mainland China. In addition, various exclusive high-asset value-added service matching referrals are also provided to high-net-worth customers.
Yang Juan, general manager of Sun Life Hong Kong's life and health business, said that the high-end value-added service ECO system is a high-quality supporting service developed by Sun Life for high-net-worth customers, further improving the existing service scope. Looking ahead to the second half of the year, she expected the company to maintain the strong growth momentum of the first quarter.