News Release

Zurich unveils plans to realign its distribution model in Hong Kong

Zurich intends to realign its agency distribution model in Hong Kong as part of a wide-ranging drive to equip its agents with the skills, capabilities and long term incentives to meet customers’ needs and regulators’ expectations.

Martin Davis, Chief Executive, Zurich Global Life Emerging Markets, said the current economic climate meant that customers’ needs and expectations would change, as would the regulatory environment. Against this background, it was essential that Zurich looked at its agency distribution model to ensure that it could meet these increased challenges. The planned realignment, communicated in principle to Hong Kong-based staff this week, follows a detailed analysis of, and consultation with the market.

He said that Zurich’s move towards a new approach to the distribution of its products represents a further example of Zurich’s innovation in agent channel distribution, both locally and globally, whereby Zurich had consistently taken a market leading position in increasing the standards of its agents, seeking to develop them into long term, career-minded, insurance professionals, with appropriate levels of support and reward, and to serve consumers and customers.

“Zurich is currently well resourced and is weathering the current financial storm in good shape but given that Asia’s financial landscape is changing rapidly, it is determined to take a first-to-market approach to the future of agent distribution and advice in the region - highlighting its commitment to the Hong Kong life business, to the agent channel and to the best possible access to appropriate products for investors,” he said.

He said while details are currently being analyzed and more fully established, from a business point of view the benefits for distributors under the envisaged new model would include the potential for them to have a greater control in driving their own future and to create a long-term enterprise structure, capitalising on relationships with trusted providers. This would leave distributors better equipped to deal with new market and regulatory conditions.

“Our experience in other markets, such as US, UK and Middle East, where agent sales teams have already been realigned demonstrates the potential for the success of the approach for product providers, distributors, customers and regulators particularly in terms of professional service standard expectations,” he said.

“Zurich will now utilise thinking and experience from outside and within Hong Kong to formulate and implement the innovative distribution plan, subject to the receipt of all required approvals, in particular regulatory approvals, and the execution and delivery of all required legal documentation.”

The realignment will be developed and delivered in a number of phases over the coming months.

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