Exclusive: AXA Hong Kong CIO joins New World Development’s FTLife
AXA Hong Kong chief investment officer and Asia head of asset and liability management (ALM) Richard Chan has joined local business conglomerate New World Development’s insurance company FTLife.
Chan commenced in the position as FTLife Insurance Company’s chief investment and ALM officer on Monday (September 26).
This is the first time that FTLife has combined the CIO and ALM responsibilities into one role.
“For me, this is the right model for an insurer to make sure that all decisions are made on a total balance sheet risk and return perspective,” Chan told AsianInvestor.
As the new CIO, Chan replaced Ken Hu, who has led FTLife’s investment team since September 2021. Chan will continue to be based in Hong Kong.
Both FTLife and Hu did not respond to requests for comment on his departure.
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Chan is a veteran in Hong Kong’s life insurance industry with almost 20 years of experience in major insurers including AIA, MetLife, Aviva, and Prudential.
Before joining FTLife, Chan was with AXA for over four years. He joined the French insurer as head of ALM for Hong Kong and Asia in August 2018 before becoming Hong Kong CIO and Asia head of ALM in March 2021.
His last day at AXA was September 23, 2022. AXA did not respond to questions about his replacement.
Earlier this month, FTLife also promoted its chief administration officer Mankit Ip to the role of chief executive officer, the company announced on Sep 5. Ip replaced Joe Cheng, who joined FTLife a year ago from local rival AIA Group.
In 2019, New World Development, which is founded by Hong Kong property tycoon Cheng Yu-tung, completed the acquisition of FTLife from Chinese financial holding firm JD Group, also known as Jiuding Group, for HK$21.5 billion ($2.7 billion) in cash, entering the insurance industry for the first time.
The life insurer ranked 11th in Hong Kong with a market share of 2.6% based on annual premium equivalent as of the end of 2021, up two spots compared with 2020.
As the new CIO and ALM head, Chan will report to Ellick Tsui, deputy CEO and chief financial officer. He will be responsible for FTLife’s investment portfolio management, asset and fund sourcing, investment operations, and asset-liability management.
“One of the two key areas is to build the synergy between the ALM and investment function to ensure we are optimising on a total balance sheet basis,” Chan said.
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“The other is to bring the ESG aspects of FTLife's investment into the next level, and in particular focusing on philosophies and impacts that are meaningful to this part of the world,” he added.