SINGAPORE - Great Eastern Holdings (GE), the insurance arm of OCBC Bank, announced on Friday (April 28) a 124 per cent surge in first-quarter net profit to S$217.9 million from S$96.9 million a year ago.

GE said this was mainly due to higher non-operating profit from the narrowing of credit spreads and rally in equity market, and higher profit from shareholders' fund's investments.

The group's Total weighted new sales (TWNS) and New business embedded value (NBEV) registered grew 29 per cent and 24 per cent respectively in the quarter.

TWNS for the three months to end-March rose by S$62.6 million from a year ago, driven by significant growth in sales across all channels, said GE. Growth was fuelled by strong contribution from both agency and bancassurance channels, it said.

NBEV, a measure of long-term economic profitability, rose 24 per cent year on year, driven by higher sales in core markets and higher NBEV margins in Malaysia, said GE.