SINGAPORE - Great Eastern Holdings (GE), the insurance arm of OCBC Bank, announced on Wednesday (Oct 26) a 185 per cent jump in earnings for the third quarter on higher operating profit and favourable financial market conditions.
Net profit for the three months to Sept 30 swelled to S$195 million from S$68.4 million for the year-ago quarter.
For nine month period, earnings fell 30 per cent to $394.1 million from S$566.6 million a year ago, in the absence of a S$119.9 million gain last year from the disposal of GE's investment in New China Life Insurance Company Ltd.
For its third quarter this year, GE said new business embedded value (NBEV) rose 29 per cent to S$135.3 million, while group's total weighted new sales (TWNS) remained strong at S$266.9 million from S$267.4 million in the year-ago quarter.
For the nine month period, TWNS increased 10 per cent over the same period last year to reach S$731.6 million as a result of strong performance by agency and bancassurance in both Singapore and Malaysia. NBEV grew 18 per cent on higher sales and NBEV margin.
Said group chief executive officer Khor Hock Seng said GR had delivered strong operating results amid a challenging environment.
He added: "Given the current macroeconomic environment, we expect markets to remain volatile. Our strong capital position and fundamentals, coupled with the resilience of our business model, will enable us to seize opportunities for further growth ... We are confident of the group's growth prospects in the markets that we operate in."
