Prudential Hong Kong has set up its first branch in Macau, completing its presence in all 11 cities in the Greater Bay Area.
The local arm of the British company is Hong Kong’s latest insurer to establish a foothold in Macau as it looks to take advantage of Beijing’s push to diversify the gaming hub into a financial services centre. HSBC Life, Manulife Financial, Haitong International Securities and Everbright Securities Investment Services (HK) have all expanded into Macau in recent years.
As the 13th life insurer to operate in the city, Prudential will also compete against AIA, AXA and FWD. Its new branch, located in FIT Centre near the Grand Lisboa hotel, will offer life and health insurance policies to customers through a team of local agents.
“Macau’s proximity to Hong Kong, Zhuhai and other Greater Bay Area cities makes it central in every sense to Prudential’s Greater Bay Area strategy to grow its footprint in the area,” said Mr Lawrence Lam, CEO of Prudential Hong Kong, at the recent launch ceremony of the Macau branch.
With Macau being home to a population of only around 680,000, most insurers have their eyes set on travellers from across the border with mainland China.
“The opening of the Macau branch will be positive news for Prudential, as it will allow the company to capture opportunities in selling policies to mainland visitors,” said Louis Tse Ming-kwong, managing director at Wealthy Securities.
“The competition will be keen though, as AIA, HSBC Life and Manulife all have large sales teams to sell policies in Macau to mainlanders.”
Mr Chris Ma, the general manager of Prudential Hong Kong (Macau), said the insurer plans to hire 500 agents in Macau within the next five years and would also like to tie up with some banking partners to sell its products.
“Macau has a growing middle class who need life and medical insurance coverage as well as wealth management products,” Ma said. “We will also serve customers from the mainland who visit Macau.”
Prudential is only the second life insurance firm to be granted a licence by the Macau authorities in the last 20 years, following Tai Ping Life three years ago.
“The new licence shows the Macau government is keen on promoting the insurance industry in Macau The past three years of the Covid-19 pandemic has shown the importance for Macau to not rely only on the casino business but also to diversify,” he said, reported South China Morning Post.