The Isle of Man-based life company reported present value of new business premiums (PVNBP) of £34.5m ($42.8m, €36.5m) for the fourth quarter of the financial year ended 30 June 2017 (i.e. the 2nd quarter of 2017), up by 5.8% from £32.6m in the same period last year.
Full year PVNBP rose by 24.3% to £148.3m, up from £119.3m in the 12 months ending 30 June 2016.
“Our annual results show the continued delivery of strong levels of new business growth across all the regions in which we operate. We expect to see this continuing into the current financial year,” Gordon Marr, group chief executive, said.
Product breakdown
Hansard focuses on distributing regular and single premium products in a range of jurisdictions around the world.
The fourth quarter saw an upswing in single premiums driven primarily by the popularity of the firm’s Universal Personal Portfolio product “especially for pensions business in the rest of world region”, the company said.
Geographical breakdown
Hansard reported that the fourth quarter saw a decrease of 63.2% in new business growth from the Middle East and Africa region, as one of its larger brokers experienced financial difficulties and ceased writing new business.
A number of other key brokers also didn’t repeat the large volumes achieved in 4Q16.
However, growth on an annual basis remained up 10% and Hansard’s outlook for the region remains positive.
In particular, the life insurer said that it considers its previously announced alliance with UAE-based general insurer Union Insurance to launch two savings and investment products as one of the key drivers of activity in the UAE.
“New terms of business have been signed with all the main locally-licensed insurance brokers and we expect to see pipeline activity translate into issued business in the coming period,” Hansard said.
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Good news from LatAm
On the flipside, in 4Q17 Hansard posted strong growth in the rest of world and Latin America regions (125% and 72% year-on-year respectively), where it has continued to see the benefit from increased marketing and investment in developing broker relationships.
“Expatriate broker distribution continues to perform strongly and we have benefited from the groundwork we have done, revitalising old relationships and developing new ones,” it said.
Assets under administration
Group AuA rose £7.8m to £1,049.7m during 4Q17, a marginal improvement compared with inflows of £46.9m during the same quarter last year due to “largely neutral” market and currency effects.
Over the course of the full financial year ending 30 June 2017, group AuA was up by £126.2m – a 7.6x increase year-on-year compared to £16.4m in 2016.
This was driven primarily by “significant stock market and currency gains earlier in the year”, the company explained in a statement.
The company advised that net withdrawals are typically experienced in Hansard Europe, which closed to new business in 2013.
