INSURER Great Eastern Holdings has suffered a 31 per cent slide in third quarter net profit to $194.6 million as policy sales dropped away after peaking last year amid the company's centennial celebrations.

Gross premiums slid 4 per cent to $2.12 billion for the three months ended Sept 30, Great Eastern said in an announcement to the Singapore Exchange.

The company said lower unrealised mark-to-market gains in the third quarter also dragged down the bottomline.

Acting group chief executive Norman Ip said: "The group has continued to deliver growth in operating profit. We also achieved improvement in margins through shifting its channel and product mix.

He added: "Nonetheless, we are aware of the challenges posed by upcoming regulatory developments and increasingly intense competition. As such, we will continue to invest in expertise, systems and processes to enable us to operate more efficiently in this new environment."