AIA Group Limited

AIA Group Limited
Chinese: 友邦保險控股有限公司
Public
Traded as SEHK: 1299
Industry Insurance and financial services
Founded 1919 (1919)
Founder Cornelius Vander Starr
Headquarters AIA Central
1 Connaught Road, Central, Hong Kong
Area served
Asia-Pacific
Key people
Mark Tucker (Group Chief Executive and President)
Products Life insurance, accident and health insurance, savings plans, employee benefits, credit life and pension services
Total assets US$172 billion (as of 31 May 2015)[1]
Website AIA.com

AIA Group Limited [2] known as AIA (Chinese: 友邦保險控股有限公司) is the largest independent public listed pan-Asian life insurance group. It has a presence in 18 markets in Asia-Pacific, wholly owned branches and subsidiaries in Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Korea, the Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam, New Zealand, Macau, Brunei, a 97% subsidiary in Sri Lanka, a 26% joint venture in India, and representative offices in Myanmar and Cambodia.

AIA traces its roots back to 1919 when an enterprising young man named Cornelius Vander Starr opened an insurance agency in Shanghai, China. Vander Starr eventually expanded his business throughout Asia, the US, and worldwide. In 1945, he relocated his head office from Shanghai to New York after a forced exit from mainland China. Thus the Asian AIA became a subsidiary of New York-based American International Group (AIG).

In 2009 AIA split from AIG after it was finalized that AIA, as well as ALICO (another AIG subsidiary), were placed under the administration of a special purpose vehicle in exchange for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.[3]

AIA was planned to be listed in Hong Kong Stock Exchange in April 2010. However, in March 2010, Prudential PLC, a UK-based financial services and securities company, announced that it would buy AIA for US$35.5 billion.[4] The purchase later fell through, and AIA held an IPO in October 2010, raising approximately HK$159.08 billion (US$20.51 billion), the world's third largest IPO ever.[5]

In September 2012, AIA agreed to acquire a 92.3% stake in Sri Lankan insurer Aviva NDB Insurance from British insurer Aviva and Sri Lanka's National Development Bank (NDB). In addition, AIA entered into an exclusive 20-year bancassurance agreement with NDB, one of Sri Lanka's largest financial conglomerates with a nationwide bank branch network.[6]

In October 2012, AIA announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire ING Group's Malaysian insurance subsidiaries for a cash consideration of €1.336 billion (US$1.73 billion).[7]

In December 2012, AIA was informed by AIG that AIG had entered into a placing agreement to sell all of its ordinary shares of AIA at a price of HK$30.30 per share. Upon completion of the placing, AIG fully divested its previous 13.69% AIA share holdings.[8]

On 15 August 2013, AIA had become English Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur's Cup Shirt sponsor for the 2013-2014 season.[9]

In December 2013, AIA and Citibank reached an agreement on a landmark exclusive bancassurance partnership that encompasses 11 markets in the Asia-Pacific region. The markets included in the agreement are: Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, China, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Australia, India, and Korea.[10]

In February 2014, the insurer announced that it entered into a five-year major partnership with Tottenham Hotspur. Under the agreement, the AIA brand will feature on the shirts of Spurs players in all competitions until the end of the 2018-2019 season.[11]

In June 2014, AIA Singapore was named "Best Employer to Work For in Asia" and received the award from HR Asia. [12]

See also

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, December 27, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.