HONG KONG: Insurer AIA Group shares fell 2.8 per cent on Monday morning (March 13) in Hong Kong as investors digested the news that chief executive Mark Tucker will be retiring in September after what was regarded as a stellar seven-year stint at the helm. A one-time professional footballer who has held several leadership jobs including running Britain’s Prudential, Mr Tucker is leaving the world’s third-largest life insurer as it faces new headwinds amid a regulatory crackdown in China and sluggish growth in some other key regional markets. He will be succeeded on Sept 1 by Mr Ng Keng Hooi, who has served as AIA regional chief executive for the past 6½ years. Mr Ng joined AIA in 2010, before which he was group CEO of Singapore-based Great Eastern Holdings and served a 20-year stint at Prudential.
Mr Tucker, 59, will be a tough act to follow. Since taking the company public shortly after his appointment in 2010, the British-born executive has presided over a doubling in AIA share’s price – driven for the most part by a pivot in focus towards Asia. Over the past seven years, the company has expanded rapidly into key growth markets including India and China, leading to a quadrupling in the value of new business at AIA to US$2.8 billion between 2010 and November 2016, according to the company.
“Under his leadership, AIA has achieved impressive growth via steady topline expansion, ongoing product mix improvement, expansion in distribution channels, accretive acquisitions, as well as expansion into new markets,” analysts at Citi wrote on Monday, noting the company was still well-positioned with an experienced senior management team. The group put in another strong performance in 2016 buoyed by steady demand for policies in Hong Kong, with mainland Chinese seeking overseas investment opportunities to cushion the impact of a weakening yuan. China and Hong Kong together accounted for about half of new business growth globally at AIA.
