from AIA Central in Hong Kong. Welcome to our first quarter 2024 update Q&A session. I'm Lance Burbage, Chief Investor Relations Officer for AIA Group. Together with me today are Li Yuanxiang, our Group CEO and President, and Garth Jones, our Group CFO. We also have other members of the Group Executive Committee either with us in the room or joining us remotely. Before we start the Q&A,
Yuen Selman Garth will take you through a short presentation on our first quarter new business performance and our new capital management policy. Yuen Selman. Good morning everyone. Today I'm very pleased to announce both to announce both to announce both to announce policy clearly demonstrating the strength of AIA's business model and our financial discipline. Value of new business for the group grew by 31% in the first quarter of 2024.
We delivered AIA's highest ever quarterly new business result, building on our very strong VOMB performance in 2023. Our new capital management policy provides greater clarity as to how we will deliver higher annual capital returns to shareholders. Following this new policy, the Board has approved a further $2 billion buyback, which increases our existing share buyback programme to a total of $12 billion.
I am confident that AIA is exceptionally well positioned to capture the highly attractive opportunities available to us across the region. We continue to focus on driving high quality, profitable new business growth that delivers increased future earnings, free surplus generation and greater shareholder value. Let me now take you through the first quarter new business highlights. VOMB was $1.3 billion
A record high for a quarter, and up by 31% We delivered double-digit growth from all our reportable segments With VOMB margin increasing by 2.1 percentage points to 54.2% AIA China was up 38% Driven by very strong double-digit growth from our premier agency Supplemented by growth from our highly selective bank assurance partners
where VOMB margin increased to around 40%. Growth was broad-based across our established operations and new branches, and the VOMB margin for AIA China increased further from the second half of 2023 to 54.6%. AIA Hong Kong grew by 43%, with double-digit growth from both the domestic and mainland Chinese visitor customer segments.
New business from mainland Chinese visitors continued to build momentum, with VOMB in the first quarter higher than in the fourth quarter of 2023. Our three largest ASEAN markets – Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia – all grew by double digits, with combined VOMB growth of 16%, and our other market segment was up by 10%.
with excellent growth from Tata AIA Life in India and strong performances from Australia, the Philippines, and South Korea. Today's announcement clearly demonstrates the strength and diversification of AIA's businesses, which enables us to capture the significant growth opportunities across Asia and deliver capital returns to shareholders. I will now hand over to Garth. Thank you, Yunxiong.
There are two key components to our enhanced capital management policy announced today. The first component is an annual payout ratio target that supplements our progressive dividend policy with annual share buybacks. The second component is a commitment to regularly review our capital position and return capital that is excess to our needs at least annually. As a result of this, we are adding $2 billion to our existing share buyback program.
We expect it to commence as soon as practicable and to complete in around 12 months. Let me now explain how this policy works in practice and how we assess our capital position from a shareholder's perspective. While the Group LTSM surpluses our principal regulatory solvency measure, we've always said that pre-surplus provides a more representative view of the capital position for shareholders. Since the introduction of the LTSM framework,
We've shown a reconciliation of the group LTSM surplus and pre-surplus consistently in our interim and annual results. Pre-surplus removes items included in the LTSM that are not available for distribution to shareholders, for example, the surplus within PAR funds. We calculate the group's total capital resources by adding pre-surplus to eligible Tier 2 debt and required capital. On this basis, the ratio of total capital resources to required capital
是2023年的269%。在我们的资金管理计划中,首要的目标是维持强有力和耐用的平衡计划。并且,需要的资金包括了各项资金层面的资金层面的资金层面的资金层面的资金层面的资金层面的资金层面的资金层面的资金层面的资金层面的资金层面的资金层面的资金层面的资金层面的资金层面的资金层面的资金层面的资金层面的资金层面的资金层面的资金层面的资金层面的资金层面的
并确保我们不限制生态新商业增长。例如,我们包括重复GFC、疫情、持续高与低利润率的情况。我们也允许这些情况变成双方同时。根据我们目前的资金需求测试,包括这些情况,我们目标是让股东的总资金资源顺利超过200%的需求资金。
On completion of the remaining $2.8 billion from the existing share buyback program, together with the additional $2 billion buyback announced today, our free surplus on a pro forma basis, as at the end of 2023, reduces to $11.5 billion. The pro forma ratio of shareholder total capital resources to required capital reduces to 238%.
Our new enhanced capital management policy provides greater clarity and will deliver higher annual capital returns to shareholders. Starting from our 2024 annual results, we will target a payout ratio of 75% of annual net free surplus generation through dividends and share buybacks. Net free surplus generation is calculated as shown using figures that we have consistently included in our results announcements.
Net free surface generation is calculated before investment return variances. While investment return variances, foreign exchange and other non-operating items create free surface volatility from year to year, they have averaged under $80 million a year since our IPO. This formulaic approach automatically adjusts for further organic investment in profitable new business. As we grow the business, the balance sheet and required capital will increase.
引导着需要保持一定的利息供应量。然而,以75%的利息供应率来看,我们预测,总的资金资源将从238%下降至需要的资金资源,随着我们的增长,并且不断地把资金转移到股东身上。为了明确和完整的计划,我们的政策是保持稳定、持续和进步的资金资源,并且不改变。
The balance of the payout above dividends with a target 75% aggregate payout ratio will be provided by way of share buybacks announced at the annual results each year. Let me now illustrate how our capital management policy will work in practice based on our 2023 annual results. As I said, there are two components to the policy and it is important to consider these together.
Net free surplus generation was $3.9 billion after new business investment of $1.3 billion. Under the first component of the policy, based on the 75% payout ratio target, $2.9 billion would have been returned to shareholders. The 2023 interim and final dividends total $2.3 billion. The $0.6 billion balance would therefore have come in the form of an additional share buyback.
We will announce this year's net FSG, final dividend, and additional share buyback at our 2024 annual results. Under the second component of the policy, the regular review of our capital position, we have today added $2 billion to our existing share buyback program. This is in addition to the $2.8 billion we will return in 2024 and the annual dividend payment. Together, these amount to roughly 10% of our recent market capitalization.
In conclusion, you can see that overall our new capital management policy provides both greater clarity and higher capital returns to shareholders. I'll now hand back to you, Eun-Seong. Thank you, Garth. In closing, today's very strong new business growth, combined with the clarity from our new capital management policy, clearly demonstrate the strength of AIA's significant competitive advantages, operational delivery and financial discipline.
Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin our Q&A session. If you wish to ask a question, you need to make sure that you are logged in to the Zoom webinar.
好的,大家早上好,恭喜!
Hello, can you hear me? I've already clicked the unmute button. Hello? OK. OK, yeah. Can you hear me? I think the operator just keep asking me. I think I've already clicked the unmute button. We can hear you now. OK, great.
Congratulations, I think it's a very strong set of results and also finally we're glad to see some clarity about the enhanced capital management plan. So I've got two questions for management. First, some of your peers have provided a long-term target for the underlying free surplus or maybe some free surplus. Can you maybe, does AIA have any targets or can you talk about any targets for the long term?
Otherwise, any colors or key considerations in thinking about the net free surface generation will be very helpful. And second, after the recent regulatory inspection on the MCV focus brokers in Hong Kong, I would like to hear from management, what do you think about the outlook for this channel in the second quarter and also beyond?
也有关于香港的经济增长的一部分你认为这是一个独立的事件吗?或者它是一个更大的阻碍例如资本控制在民营经济上的事件? 谢谢首先,感谢,感谢,乔治,我明白需要尝试以某种方式向前推进我想要记住的重要的事情是
一样,我们的赚钱准划中的几个层次是我们在新商业上创造出的赚钱创造出的创造出的创造出的创造出的创造出的创造出的创造出的创造出的创造出的创造出的创造出的创造出的创造出的创造出的创造
并添加到未来的免费产品生产量并添加到未来的免费产品生产量并添加到未来的免费产品生产量并添加到未来的免费产品生产量并添加到未来的免费产品生产量并添加到未来的免费产品生产量并添加到未来的免费产品生产量并添加到未来的免费产品生产量并添加到未来的免费产品生产量并添加到未来的免费产品生产量并添加到未来的免费产品生产量并添
I would just add that the underlying free surplus generation is a very key metric that the management is very focused on. It is one of the key
Hi, Charles. Thank you for the question on the MCV broker. First of all, the investigation by the Hong Kong Insurance Authority and ICAC, it is still under investigation.
and the identity of the broker has not been disclosed. First of all, I want to let you know that, in fact, since the border reopened last year, the Hong Kong Life Insurance Industry has been in discussion with the Hong Kong Insurance Authority to keep review and investigate the sales practice of certain sales individuals to ensure full compliance of the MCV business and to ensure the long-term sustainability of the MCV business.
And in the case of AIA, you all know that AIA holds a very high standard on compliance on MCV policies. We require the MCV customer to be present in Hong Kong or Macau, and our staff at the Wealth Select Centre will meet with the customer, will ensure all the proper documentation, etc. And also, we carry out welcome call to check the MCV customer on the sales process, etc.
So in fact, AIA very welcome the initiative taken by Hong Kong Insurance Authority in this caseAnd as I said, this is still under investigationBut in view of the heightened risk of this concerned brokerAIA Hong Kong already suspend a new business coming from this brokerFirst of all, I really want to reiterate that the MCV business is a business in the Hong Kong insurance industry for almost more than two decades
And the MCV customer flow coming to Hong Kong remains very strongAnd in the case of AIA, we have diversified distribution channelsAnd our core agency channel actually took up more than 60% of the MCV business of AIA Hong KongAnd the rest is coming from our diversified bankers-run partnership and more than 100 brokers
So we see that the so-called short-term impact from this broker to Hong Kong, to AIA, actually is very minimal.And in fact, this will really help the long-term sustainability of the MCV business through the broker channel.I agree with Jackie, and I really welcome the actions taken by the Hong Kong RE.
因为我认为它会支持香港市场的MCD商业的长期可持续性的经营性谢谢这就答案了吗查尔斯?谢谢查尔斯下一个问题请下一个问题来自Gorman Sachs的Thomas WongThomas 请按下屏幕按钮并问下您的问题
Thank you. Can you hear me? Yes. Okay, great. So thank you, Minister, for this opportunity. A couple of questions. First, I just want a little bit more detail on that total capital target of comfortably above 200%. Can you sort of share a little bit more color on that and how you think about free surplus and eligible debt mix within that
Can you talk about the bank assurance and agency mix in terms of sales and VOMB in the first quarter and then
Thanks Thomas. As we showed earlier, it's arguing this shareholder capital ratio that comfortably exceeds 200%
When we look at reviewing our capital position regularly and looking at the capital that is in excess of our needs, that also includes optimizing our overall capital structure depending on debt market capacity and conditions. Clearly, the group retains additional financial flexibility from its debt capacity.
从价格角度来看,我们目前的信用券价格价格价格价格价格价格价格价格价格价格价格价格价格价格价格价格价格价格价格价格价格价格价格价格价格价格价格价格价格
Hi, Thomas, let me take you through our very strong A-China result in the first quarter. We are very pleased that the growth is broad-based across both agency and also bank assurance channels. Furthermore, our protection view and B also grow double-digit in the first quarter this year. Our agency remains our core channel
And the agency growth is driven by growth in number of active agents, and more than 20% growth in number of new recruits and number of new active agents. And this is very broad-based, and the AMP per active agent also grows strongly in first quarter. So our agency really continues to perform very well in both protection and long-term savings products.
As our differentiated bank assurance, we continue to focus on our strategic partners' banks, including China Postal Group, Bank of East Asia, Shanghai Putongzheng Bank, and Bank of China. We continue to focus on the affluent and above customer segment and the average case size speed for itself. It is a very, very strong average case size. Our bank assurance profitability actually also improved in first quarter.
from last year's first quarter to this year's first quarter that was almost a VNB margin of 40% so we are very pleased with this differentiated bank assurance channel and in the first quarter the bank assurance channel contributed roughly 15% of our total VNB of A-China we continue to be very bullish about the outlook of our A-China business in Mainland China. Thanks, Jackie. Does that answer the question, Thomas?
The next question comes from MW team of JP Morgan. MW, please press the unmute button on your screen and ask your question. Thank you so much for taking my question and really appreciate your quarterly management call.
Following this announcement, as previously mentioned, the underlying pre-surplus generation perhaps becomes a more important figure to the shareholders and broad stakeholders. So, my first question is about the management KPI. Currently, the new business value has a larger weight in the management KPI.
Would we expect potentially higher weight on underlying free surplus generation in short-term incentive scheme moving forward? And next question is about India. As the company commented in the report, India joint venture seem to enjoy excellent journey with bigger scale. Would we expect more detailed number in India business in the foreseeable future? Thank you. Thank you, Kim.
Now, in terms of the nature of our business, it's a long-term business and as you know, writing profitable new business is key to supporting our future earnings and future free surplus generation. So we will continue to be very focused on
Our view will be and it will continue to be the most important metric in our incentive programs. I have mentioned just now that we are very focused on operating profit, we are focused on EV, we are very focused on underlying free surplus generation. And as a result, we are introducing the underlying free surplus generation
是LTI的新参数,这会让我们有更多的关注于SGE的数据。谢谢NW,我只想说一下,我们一直说到VNB是一个领先的指标,就像我刚才所说的,VNB的领先指标
进入了赚钱的流通,进入了赚钱的流通,进入了赚钱的流通,进入了赚钱的流通,进入了赚钱的流通,进入了赚钱的流通,进入了赚钱的流通,进入了赚钱的流通,进入了赚钱的流通,进入了赚钱的流通,进入赚钱的流通,进入赚钱的流通,进入赚钱的流通,进入赚钱的流通,进入赚钱的流通,进入赚钱的流通,进入赚钱的流通,进入赚钱的流通,进入赚钱的流通,进入赚钱的流通,进入赚钱的流通,进入赚钱的流通,进入赚钱的流通,进入赚钱的流
In order to further improve our ROE over time. On India, as you say, excellent growth in India. We're very excited about that business. It continues to perform very, very well. And I think you'll see increasingly more information coming from that. Clearly there's a lot of information in the local market that's available in addition to what we provide.
下一个问题来自HSBC的Kailash MistryKailash 请按下屏幕按钮并回答您的问题
Thank you for the incremental disclosure today on capital management and new business. However, I've got three questions. The first set of questions are on capital management and the modeling of that. I guess one of the key assumptions is required capital. That grew by about 10% per annum over the last five years. Is this a reasonable assumption going forward or should it be higher given the new business growth?
在选举的债务上,我想跟随前面的回答,我认为Garth提到你提供了5%的资源在Moody的计算中,我想再次强调一下,这些资源是否都合适用于LCSM的基础,我认为这个计算中的数字是合适用于LCSM的基础。第二,在中国的情况下,你认为第一季度的产品混合资源对比2023年的产品
在香港海外,我们看到了什么样的产品混合?我们看到了保护保险,我们看到了保护保险,我们看到了保护保险,我们看到了保护保险,我们看到了保护保险,我们看到了保护保险,我们看到了保护保险,我们看到了保护保险,我们看到了保护保险,我们看到了保护保险,我们看到了保护保险,我们看到了保护保险,我们看到了保护保险,我们看到了保护保险,我们看到了保护保险,我们看到了保护保险,我们看到了保护保险,我们看到了保护保险,我们看到了保护保险,我们看到了保护保险,我们看到了保护保
关于需要的资金,你会期待它在业务上增长。我认为最重要的是整体的免税,而不是仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅仅
但是我们说的那样,我们认为免费贷款的比例将需要资金继续下降,根据75%的免费贷款比率。我们将继续评测这一点,至少在一年内,看看我们现在在哪里。在贷款的选择上,明显地,我们的房间,
我们称之为慕迪的数字 It does vary by rating agency. We've called it the Moody's number here. It does provide us with important financial flexibility for whatever purpose. And clearly, you also have to consider the capacity of debt markets and structuring and so on at the same time as well. So, a number of things to think about. In terms of the LTSM, the LTSM clearly
includes regulatory-eligible debt. There are different conditions for that and for ratings agency-eligible debt. They are broadly similar. And each rating agency, as you know, has different criteria. So we look to have debt that covers all of those different requirements and be eligible for both ratings and for solvency, but there are differences between each basis.
Hi, Kinesh, on Product Mixer, China. So there are really some differences because in China, we are always innovating our products and keep pace in the competitive market. So last year, first quarter, we didn't have the tax deferred personal pension benefit. Last year, first quarter, we only saw very, very small portion of participating business.
And also last year, first quarter, we rolled out the first in the market, the so-called Simplified E-Zoo CI. So it is quite different in the agency channel. So this year, first quarter, in the agency channel, the tax deferred personal pension plan actually is one of our top selling products in the agency channel. And it also helps our new agents and also our agents in general to acquire new customers.
And secondly, we continue to focus on CI. Our flagship, as you wish, critical illness product has grown in the first quarter this year compared to last year's first quarter. And overall, our total protection view MB has strong double-digit growth, as we also focus on a lot of those renewable medical insurance business in the agency channel. And lastly, in the agency channel, in this year, we roll out participating products.
And in first quarter, it makes up about 10% of our agency's real NB. So this gives you a feel of that difference. But as a whole, the agency channel real NB margin, even though the interest rate comes down, we already adopt the China Association interest rate in the real NB. And our agency's real NB margin still holds up at about 60% at a similar level compared to our first quarter last year.
As to our bank assurance channel, our differentiated bank assurance channel, as I said, the margin increased to 40% and the bank assurance channel continued to sell a lot of, a mix of long-term saving products and long-term protection products. So that is about the product mix of A.China in the first quarter. As to Hong Kong, the MCV product mix roughly remained unchanged.
The protection sales remain to contribute more than 50% by new business policies. And the average case size of the MCV business roughly hold up at about US$19,000, similar level as last year, whole year. And our long-term saving product continue to be very welcome by the MCV customers. So basically, I would say in the case of AI Hong Kong account,
MCV product mix roughly is similar to the last year level. Thanks, Jackie. Any follow-up questions, Kailash? No follow-up questions, but just a sort of request. I guess some of your peers do allow us to model that required capital a little bit more clearly, so that additional level of disclosure might be helpful. And similarly on
下一个问题来自摩根史丹利的Richard Xu
Sure, thank you for the opportunity. Again, very congrats on a very solid first quarter. Two questions for me. One is, obviously some of these strong numbers were still probably helped by the low base, you know, for Hong Kong going forward, for example, for second quarter, which high base last year and then going forward for the full year. Based on the current trend, what are some of the guided expectations for growth for, you know, first half,
And then maybe, you know, any guidance for a little bit more further for that. And second question is on China. Obviously, China is going through some transition. Certainly, we are seeing a more balancing of economic development in China. Are you seeing any differential in growth from different regions? For example, you know, first tier cities versus some of the new locations, particularly any
Thank you, Richard. I'm very happy to continue to talk about Hong Kong and mainland China. Firstly, although you said last year's first quarter was a low base for Hong Kong, but if you look at our Hong Kong view and our first quarter this year, I want to say that
The total first quarter VUMB of Hong Kong actually surpassed the fourth quarter last year of Hong Kong. And within the MCV segment, actually it has a double-digit growth. The MCV VUMB of first quarter this year in Macau has a double-digit growth over a fourth quarter last year end. So I would say this is really a strong, yeah, it's growing strength from strength.
And if you look at the A Hong Kong VMB for the month of March,it was the highest ever monthly VMB since the border we opened last year.So I want to give you this kind of color to see that our Hong Kong and Macau business really is going from strength to strength.And very importantly is the underlying drivers.I keep talking about the underlying drivers.So the growth of first quarter of Hong Kong and Macau in this year is driven by increasing number of active agents.
and very strong double-digit growth in number of new recruits and number of active new agents. And in respect to the MCV-focused new recruits in first quarter this year, actually the number doubled compared to the MCV-focused new recruits number in first quarter last year. So this shows the underlying driver and the strength of the Hong Kong business.
We don't give our focus, but I want to say that with all these strong drivers, we have strong confidence about the long-term growth and sustainability of the Hong Kong business. Now in the case of mainland China, I also want to say that, continue to reiterate, our growth in mainland China is broad-based. So it is growth from both the so-called old geographies and the new geographies.
And we have five new provincial licences since we got the subsidisation in 2020. And those new provinces grew by 45% in the first quarter this year. And the growth is driven by, as I'm going to say, it is a strong double-digit growth of number of new recruits and number of active new agents across both the old geographies and the new geographies.
And as I keep talking about giving some color on the AI China differentiated agency model, we really continue to see a good case size, average case size, from our AI China agency channel, as well as our differentiated bankers-run channel, because we're really focusing on the middle income and above, a customer segment. And those customer segments are more resilient in the current economic situation.
所以这就是我想说的,关于美国和中国的事情。谢谢,杰弗。有任何其他问题吗,Richard?我只有一个继续的问题,你知道的。我知道,在长期来说,港康的一些牌商的缺点是长期的正面影响。我们是否预期第二季有可能会有近期的影响,还是没有任何影响?
As I said, the so-called Hong Kong Booker issue actually for the long term is beneficial for the whole Hong Kong insurance industry and also for the Booker Channel for sustainable quality growth of MCV business. And in the case of A Hong Kong, you see our major MCV channel is still the agency which is generating more than 60% of the MCV VNB. So as a whole, we really don't see any significant impact to the A Hong Kong and Macau business.
谢谢非常感谢非常感谢非常感谢非常感谢非常感谢非常感谢非常感谢非常感谢非常感谢非常感谢非常感谢非常感谢非常感谢非常感谢
I recall last year you had a chart in the full year presentation Q on Q increasing every quarter so I'm assuming that means that it's still increasing Q on Q in the first quarter but specifically on the MCV new recruits can I just check how long do they take to become productive so maybe how long do they take to reach average Asian productivity levels for the new MCV recruits
大夫刚才提到的利润率从15%到20%上涨是否有时间限制?还有你对M&A在未来有多大的承受力?你愿意超过20%吗?最后的一个评论我非常喜欢你对数据和生育率的透明性尤其是对于香港和中国的市场的数据和生育率我非常喜欢你对数据和生育率的透明性
Hi Michael, let me start with the MCV question. So actually, we see the new agent records
In particular, the MCV new recruits, actually they are growing quarter by quarter since last year, since the border reopening. So we do see continuous strong momentum in these new recruits. Now, when the new recruits will become effective, I want to let you know, in AI Hong Kong Macau, we employ very sophisticated
Kind of selection interviewSo we have AI-based appetite testAnd also AI-based interviewbefore they come to see our in-person interviewAnd furthermore, in terms of the requirement on a new agentWe have a so-called M3, M6Meaning that the first three months they have to achieve somethingThe first six months, the new recruit has to achieve somethingOtherwise, yeah, they will fail
So in the case of AirCon, I want to say that I would expect on average the new recruits, they have to become active, able to contribute to a meaningful production in M3 and then continue to ramp up in M6. So this is what we are working on in managing our new agents. Thanks, Michael. And on the debt, clearly, as I said earlier,
The debt capacity we have gives us additional financial flexibility.We're comfortable with our current financial ratings and there is some capacity within the current ratings to extend the debt capacity further.That financial flexibility is important to us,but clearly we look at the capital structure on a regular basis as well as looking at the capital levels we need.
所以我们继续在持续的方式上测试。是的,然后就在说明文章上,我很高兴你觉得有用。实际上我们想给予您的信心是在于我们所看到的增长,并且我们对此增长的自信。我们并没有能够顺利管理这项项项目,因此我们会考虑这项项目在未来。
Sure, thanks. Sorry, can I just follow up? Yeah, on the capital management, can you just elaborate on what the considerations are for buybacks versus dividends? You know, under what condition would you actually raise, say, your dividends, maybe relative to operating profits? Yeah, I think the key thing within the framework we've set out is that firstly we look at the underlying free surplus generation, net free surplus generation,
是更具代表性的投资资金的基础明显我们也有资金的增长但是资金代表了投资的利润我们认为在允许新商业增长的过去我们认为在允许新商业增长的过去我们认为在允许新商业增长的过去我们认为在允许新商业增长的过去我们认为在允许新商业增长的过去
The next question comes from Edwin Liu of CLSA. Edwin, please press the unmute button on your screen and ask your question. Hi, good morning. Thank you for the opportunity to ask question and congratulations on a very good set of results. Just, can I ask on Hong Kong, I noticed that the domestic settlement also will require
If I can follow up on previous analyst's question on new recruits for MCV,
we are very positive on this trend but just noted that the Hong Kong government's talent visa may be slowing down a bit just from a longer-term perspective would the recruitment be slowing down if we look at say next two or three years in terms of the MCV focus agent recruitment and just lastly if I can squeeze one more question I know you haven't disclosed it in the quarterly result in terms of the operating profit after tax
Can we get a color on the trend? Has it turned positive in the first quarter on a year-on-year basis? Thank you. Thank you, Erwin. So let me also give you some more color. I'm also very happy to say that our Hong Kong Macau business actually has broad-based growth, as you already mentioned. Domestic also grew strongly in the first quarter. And the growth is continuously supported by the underlying driver.
具体内容详细,请参考文本中文普通话
Because under whatever cycle, customers still need long-term financial planning. And even in the so-called economic downturn, customers really need to assess their financial risk in terms of protection needs, etc. So we continue to be able to penetrate the domestic customer segment. Because of the aging population, we continue to say that the need for retirement
saving is great, and also the need for healthcare and health insurance continue to be great. That's why AIA Group, we have our integrated healthcare strategy, and Hong Kong, we are also executing their healthcare strategy. So we do see these are the underlying drivers that will continue to drive the growth of their domestic business. And in terms of their MCV record and their sustainability,
I think we have been talking about this. So if you look at the number of daily average MCV visitor to Hong Kong in first quarter, that was about 91,000. That has already increased, growing from the 2023 overall whole year daily average MCV visitor. And this number hasn't gone back to the pandemic height.
And as I continue to mention, the demand for quality U.S. dollar long-term saving products from the MCV customers remains strong, and Hong Kong remains. And those MCV customers, in terms of new policy sales, over 50% is protection. The critical illness policy, high-end medical insurance policy continue to attract the attention of the MCV customers. And this kind of
Any follow-ups, Edwin? Just the question on operating profit after tax. Oh, can you repeat the question? Sorry.
Yes, so just want to confirm any comment from you in terms of the operating OPEC trend in the first quarter. Yes, thanks. As I mentioned a few times now, the VNB growth translates into OPEC growth and UFSG growth over time. I should say that we noted some recent volatility in the consensus forecasts on OPEC.
在一些金融平台上,但目前的预测看起来比较有道理。你会看到我们在半年内宣布成绩。好的,谢谢Gov. 下一个问题,请。下一个问题来自Michelle Ma, Earth City。Michelle,请点击屏幕上的小铃铛并回答您的问题。
Thank you, management, for taking my question. This is Michelle from Citi. I have two questions. First is on the... I'm trying to understand the pace of buyback as I observed in the past three weeks. The pace of buyback actually slowed down quite a lot despite greater share price volatility in the past couple of weeks. So I understand that that's a fully automated program.
So could you shed some light on what's the key factors embedded in this automated buyback program, such as volatility or absolute share price level or the remaining quota left? So what's the major factors determining the buyback pace? Second is on China.
So I think compared to other regions, China is quite unique because of the capital control and the decreasing interest rate, and also very limited supply of long-duration assets available in the market. So I think one concern is the potential mismatch between asset and liability.
所以能否分享一下中国的资金和纳税的持续性相对来说?还有如果我们的投资预测只限于中国的中央股市那会是什么样的敏感性? 谢谢! 非常感谢,米歇尔! 第一点是买回
What we do is we provide an instruction to the broker to buy back a certain amount of shares over a certain amount of time. And with that, we then hand that to the broker to execute. That enables us to continue to buy back the shares during the blackout periods, which we otherwise wouldn't be able to do.
那就是谷歌公司每天的决定买回多少股份那就是谷歌公司每天的决定买回多少股份那就是谷歌公司每天的决定买回多少股份那就是谷歌公司每天的决定买回多少股份那就是谷歌公司每天的决定买回多少股份那就是谷歌公司每天的决定买回多少股份那就是谷歌公司每天的决定买回多少股份那就是谷歌公司每天的决定买回多少股份那就是谷歌公司每天的决定买回多少股份那就是谷歌公司每天的决定买回多少股份那就是谷歌公司每天的决定买回多少股份那就是谷
这些产品产生健康的收益如果我们看一看投资团队我们会发现大多数的投资团队都持续了超过30年的时间您也会注意到最近中国政府表示它将提供更多的长期贸易资源并且它支持高于目前的利息价格
With all of that, we remain very comfortable with the asset side, as well as, as you know, we start with the liabilities when we look at the asset side, and we remain comfortable with both. Yeah, maybe I may, Michel, maybe I may add that, as I said, in first quarter this year, Hong, in mainland China, we have participating product, SOFU agency channel, which make up about 10% of the VOMB of first quarter.
OK, thank you. Any follow-ups, Michelle? Yeah, all good.
Thank you. Any more questions? We don't have any more questions from the participants. I will now pass it back to Lance to conclude today's session. Great, thank you. Thank you everyone for listening and participating. If you have any follow-up questions, which I think Arthur has volunteered IR for quite a few, please come through to us at Investor Relations and thanks very much and good morning.
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes AIA's first quarter 2024 update analyst Q&A. Thank you for your participation.