By Enda Curran
HONG KONG--One of the world's longest-serving life-insurance
sales agents is still plying his trade in this Asian financial
capital.
Every morning, Joe Sun, 88 years old, shows up at the offices of
Manulife Financial Corp., a Canadian insurer where he has worked
for 60 years.
Described by the insurer as legendary for his sales prowess, Mr.
Sun joined the company in 1954 after responding to an advertisement
in the South China Morning Post, one of two English-language daily
newspapers in the city. An economics graduate of Soochow University
in Shanghai, Mr. Sun moved to Hong Kong in 1951 and was one of
seven candidates chosen from 400 applicants three years later.
His first sale of a life-insurance policy was to a worker at a
Hong Kong dockyard. "The moment I got his signature I was walking
on air," Mr. Sun said. "I immediately counted my commission."
Wearing a cravat and smart suit, Mr. Sun shows few signs of
slowing down. Reeling off names of former colleagues and policies
sold, he remains quick on his feet. As he guided a reporter through
Manulife's offices in a key shopping district, he at one point
jogged to catch a waiting elevator.
Mr. Sun has become one of the company's most successful agents,
winning multiple internal awards in a career that highlights the
importance of distribution channels as the industry has developed
in Asia. When Mr. Sun began selling life coverage, the market was a
backwater, where the concept wasn't widely understood, but it has
become one of the world's fastest growing.
The region is now a battleground for big insurers, including AIA
Group Ltd, Prudential PLC, MetLife Inc., Sun Life Financial Inc.
and others.
The companies have been attracted by Asia's emerging middle
class and growing population, as well as by the fact that a smaller
share of the region's people have life insurance than in the
developed world. In the U.S., for example, sales to the middle
class are declining.
Big insurers are rushing to snap up smaller rivals, particularly
in Southeast Asia. Unlike in China, that market isn't dominated by
domestic insurers.
For insurers, agents such as Mr. Sun are important in the battle
to drum up business, taking advantage of the rising demand. Tens of
thousands of agents are deployed across the region, providing a
distribution channel in addition to sales via banks and the
Internet. Manulife alone has more than 51,000 agents in Asia.
Banks and insurers are jockeying to ensure they are positioned
to benefit from growing demand.
Singapore's DBS Group Holdings, a bank, is working toward
putting the right to sell insurance through its branches for a
fixed period up for sale. The U.K. insurer Aviva PLC now sells its
products via DBS, and is expected to be among the bidders.
Late last year, AIA agreed to a multibillion-dollar deal to sell
its insurance products through Citigroup Inc.'s Asian-Pacific
retail branch network.
Prudential PLC said this month that a distribution partnership
with Standard Chartered PLC, renewed earlier this year, helped
boost profit from new insurance business in Asia by 15% to GBP775
million in the first nine months of the year, on a
constant-currency basis.
"The key is an exclusive relationship with the bank to allow
better product mix, selling practices and training in their
network," said Credit Suisse analyst Arjan van Veen. "This is why
the insurers are willing to pay such high upfront amounts to secure
these agreements,"
Manulife, based in Toronto, is among the global insurance giants
gaining in Asia as life-insurance sales in more mature markets,
such as the U.S., stagnate or decline. Overall Asian insurance
sales at the company, Canada's largest insurer by assets, rose by
46% to a record in the July-to-September quarter.
In the early days, Mr. Sun's pitches were often met with
skepticism by a market unfamiliar with the concept of life
insurance.
"At that time they didn't want to hear" about insurance, he
said. "'You want me to die'?" he said people asked him.
Mr. Sun no longer spends his days pounding the streets to pitch
his company's products. But he remains active as a contact for
clients and a mentor for younger staff.
On the morning of a recent interview, Mr. Sun said he had
received a call from a local dredging company, looking to discuss
some of Manulife's products,
"They phoned me and said 'Can you come over?'," said Mr.
Sun.
It is an agent's ability to offer personal interaction that
explains why they remain a potent sales outlet, said Les Forrest,
regional head of agency in Asia for MetLife.
"There is still a very strong preference for some kind of
face-to-face interaction at some stage of the process," he
said.
Another Canadian insurer, Sun Life, also boasts long-serving
agents in Asia.
Regina T. Leechiu, 73, based in Makati City in the Philippines,
has worked for Sun Life for 28 years since joining in 1986. Three
of her children also joined Sun Life to work as agents.
"They are enjoying every moment, like me. I don't know when I
will retire, perhaps at 90," she said.
Rita Trichur contributed to this article.
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