AIA Group Ltd

Hong Kong-based insurer AIA Group Ltd on Thursday reported a 37% fall in new business for the first half of the year, as the COVID-19 pandemic dented sales of its insurance products in its main markets of Hong Kong and China.

China's banking and insurance regulator said on Friday that it had approved an application by insurer AIA Group Ltd <1299.HK> to convert all its branches in mainland China into a wholly-owned life insurance subsidiary to be headquartered in Shanghai.

* AIA GROUP- ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENT OF LEE YUAN SIONG AS AN EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Asia-focussed insurer AIA Group Ltd <1299.HK> reported a 27% drop in quarterly new business value on Friday for the first time since listing in Hong Kong in 2010, hit by disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in its main markets.

* Q1 ANNUALISED NEW PREMIUMS $1,483 MILLION VERSUS $1,827 MILLION

Asia-focussed insurer AIA Group Ltd reported a 28% drop in quarterly new business value on Friday for the first time since listing in Hong Kong in 2010, hit by disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic in its main markets.

A second wave of COVID-19 infections could trigger a retest of the low hit by the equity markets in March, said Mark Konyn, AIA group chief investment officer in Hong Kong.

* AIA GROUP LTD- APPLICATION MADE TO STOCK EXCHANGE OF HONG KONG LIMITED FOR LISTING OF US$1 BILLION 3.375 PER CENT NOTES DUE 2030

* Shares down 4.4%, underperform broader Hong Kong market (Recasts and adds CEO comment)

* ANNOUNCES 10 PER CENT GROWTH IN FINAL DIVIDEND TO 93.30 HONG KONG CENTS PER SHARE

Insurer AIA Group Ltd said on Thursday its value of new business increased 6% last year, slowing from a robust growth posted in recent years, as months of anti-government protests in Hong Kong weighed on sales.

Asia-focussed insurer AIA Group Ltd <1299.HK> on Friday named a senior executive at Chinese rival Ping An Insurance Group Co <601318.SS> as its chief executive officer to replace company veteran Ng Keng Hooi.

A reduction in the risks that have bedeviled the global economy this year will help lift markets in 2020, but protests across the world are signaling longer-term challenges for policymakers, AIA Group <1299.HK> Chief Investment Officer Mark Konyn said.

Asia-focused insurer AIA Group Ltd <1299.HK> posted its smallest ever quarterly growth in new business value, as anti-government protests in Hong Kong hit sales of insurance products to mainland Chinese visitors.

Asia-focused insurer AIA Group Ltd said on Monday it posted only a small rise in new business for the third quarter, affected by a "challenging operating environment" in Hong Kong amid political unrest in the Asian financial hub.

AIA Group has invested in Indonesia's Gojek as part of the ride-hailing and payments company's Series F fundraising round, the insurer's Indonesian unit said in a statement on Wednesday.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia <CBA.AX> has accepted A$150 million ($101 million) less for the sale of its life-insurance business to Hong-Kong based AIA Group <1299.HK>, as it signed revised agreements to fast-track the long-delayed divestment.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia said on Friday it signed revised agreements with AIA Group Ltd to help progress the planned divestment of its Australian life insurance business Comminsure Life to the the Hong Kong-based firm.

Asia-focussed insurer AIA Group Ltd on Friday posted a 20% rise in new business for the first half of the year, as it sold more insurance products in its main markets of Hong Kong and China.