FWD Group announces 2023 financial results

HONG KONG, March 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- FWD Group Holdings Limited ("FWD Group" or "FWD") today announced full year results for the 12 months ended 31 December 2023.

• Value of new business of US$991 million, up 22 percent compared to 2022.
• Operating profit after tax up by 27 percent from 2022 to US$372 million.
• Groupwide solvency ratio^[i] at 292 percent, up from 288 percent in 2022.
• US$685m revolving credit facility finalised in February 2024; total undrawn committed credit facilities now US$1.185 billion.
• FWD Group Holdings Limited attained its inaugural credit ratings in 2023; key insurance operating entities insurer financial strength rating of "A" (Fitch) and "A3" (Moody's).

Huynh Thanh Phong, Group Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of FWD Group, said, "With these results, FWD has again proven its ability to drive organic growth and operating profitability across our business, as we execute our customer-led and digitally enabled strategy. Our 10^th anniversary year was a transformational one for FWD, representing a key inflection point where all four geographic business segments delivered operating profit for the first time."

"Everything we do at FWD aims to empower our customers to celebrate living, knowing they have the protection they need, at the moments that matter in their lives. As we look ahead, enhancing our presence and deepening FWD's footprint across the 10 markets we operate in will be a top priority as we continue to build scale in our business."

The results were driven by positive trends in the Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR reporting segment, with the return of Mainland Chinese visitors during 2023. In Thailand, continued leadership in bancassurance, coupled with solid contributions from the agency sales channel, delivered strong results.

Japan made another sizeable contribution, while continuing to complete its strategic pivot toward the individual insurance segments, and away from the corporate-owned life insurance business, which has largely run off. The Emerging Markets business generated its first-ever full year operating profit after tax, despite the market disruption in Vietnam, which reflects the scale being built in those markets. FWD Group continues to invest in the region. The company recently became the majority 70 percent shareholder in FWD Takaful Berhad in Malaysia and increased its minority investment to 44 percent in BRI Life in Indonesia.

As announced by Athene Holding Ltd. in November 2023, FWD Life Insurance Co. Ltd. executed a block reinsurance transaction to reinsure an in-force block of whole life insurance policies in Japan. The transaction delivered significant capital and risk management benefits to FWD and is economically beneficial. However, under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) timing differences exist between the recognition of any future IFRS profits and a one-time impact to 2023 IFRS net profits, as the financial assets transferred to fund the transaction were deemed realised. Additionally, the following metrics: contractual service margin; embedded value; and IFRS equity were impacted by strengthened actuarial assumptions to reflect the latest post-COVID experience and market disruption in Vietnam.

Except for segmental adjusted operating profit/(loss) after tax (non-IFRS measure), net profit/(loss), CSM, new business CSM, and TWPI, all other numbers in the table above are unaudited.

About FWD Group

FWD Group is a pan-Asian life insurance business with more than 13 million customers across 10 markets, including some of the fastest-growing insurance markets in the world. The company was established in 2013 and is focused on changing the way people feel about insurance. FWD's customer-led and digitally enabled approach aims to deliver innovative propositions, easy-to-understand products and a simpler insurance experience.

For more information, please visit www.fwd.com