Great Eastern Life

Great Eastern Life Assurance Co. Ltd
大東方人壽保險有限公司
Public Listed Company
Traded as SGX: G07
Industry Finance and Insurance
Founded 1908
Headquarters Singapore
Key people

Alfred Hewton Fair(Founder)

Khor Hock Seng (Group CEO)
Products Banking
Insurance
Asset management
Website GE Singapore
GE Malaysia
GE Indonesia

Great Eastern Life Assurance is the largest life insurance company in Singapore and Malaysia. It is also the oldest insurance company in Asia.

It is the largest insurance group in Singapore and Malaysia with S$45 billion in assets (as at 6 Aug 2007) and 3 million policyholders. With two distribution channels – the tied agency force and bancassurance – it is the leader in both Singapore and Malaysia. It is the only life insurance company to be listed on the Singapore Exchange, and the largest insurance company in South-east Asia in terms of assets and market capitalisation. Great Eastern has over 2.6 million policies in force served by 24 branch offices and a service network of more than 17,000 agents nationwide. Great Eastern (as at 31 Dec 2005) has assets in excess of RM26 billion.

History

Great Eastern Life Assurance (Malaysia) Berhad started as a branch office of Great Eastern Life Assurance Co Ltd. It is the oldest and largest insurance company in Malaysia.

Incorporated in 1908, Great Eastern Life Assurance Co Ltd claims to be the oldest and most established life insurance company in Singapore and Malaysia. OAC was incorporated in 1920 as the first composite insurer in Singapore. Great Eastern is the only insurance company in the region with two distribution channels – tied agency and bancassurance.

In 1999, Great Eastern Life Assurance (Malaysia) Berhad was localised as a wholly owned subsidiary of Great Eastern Life Assurance Co Ltd in Singapore.

In November 1999, Great Eastern Life underwent restructuring to become a wholly owned life insurance arm of a financial service holding company – Great Eastern Holdings Ltd. This was followed by a merger between Great Eastern Holdings and Overseas Assurance Corporation in December 2000.

In June 2004, Great Eastern Holdings became a substantially owned subsidiary of OCBC Bank, Singapore’s longest established local bank. OCBC Bank has assets of S$164 billion and a network of 390 branches and representative offices in 15 countries and territories including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong SAR, Taiwan, Brunei, Myanmar, Japan, Korea, Australia, UK and USA. This network includes more than 280 branches and offices in Indonesia operated by OCBC Bank's subsidiary, PT Bank NISP. OCBC Bank and its banking subsidiaries offer a wide range of specialist financial services, from consumer, corporate, investment, private and transaction banking to treasury and stockbroking services.

In addition to Singapore where Great Eastern is headquartered, and Malaysia with 29 branches, Great Eastern also has a branch office in Brunei since 1975, a subsidiary company in Indonesia since 1996, and representative offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

In June 2006, Great Eastern and Chongqing Land Properties Group launched their 50:50 joint venture life insurance company, Great Eastern Life Assurance (China) Co Ltd. This new company is headquartered in Chongqing which will act as a bridgehead for its expansion plans into the rest of China. The Company also holds at least 31% of the total shares in the Malaysian Share market (KLSE).( —citation needed)

Awards

Great Eastern has picked up a number of awards, one of which is the Singapore Brand Award organised by IE Singapore, which it has won for the fifth year running in 2006. Great Eastern is also well regarded as Singapore's 7th Most Valuable Brand and its brand value increased from S$609 million in 2005 to S$693 million in 2006.

See also

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 5/2/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.