Hansard reports 8.3% annual increase in new business

‘Initial focus is on delivering launch’ of its Japan proposition, says newly appointed group CEO

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Insurance group Hansard Global has reported new business came in at £173m ($237.6m, €201.4m) for the 2021 financial year, ending 30 June 2021.

This was a up 8.3% from £159.8m in FY 2020, the firm said in a statement.

New business for the firm’s Q4 2021 was £49.4m, 19.6% higher than £41.3m in three-month period ending 30 June 2020, however this period “was significantly impacted by the initial covid-19 lockdowns”.

Hansard said: “New business has continued to recover from the most severe covid-19 restrictions in place last year as pent-up cash savings are being invested.”

Assets under administration totalled £1.23bn at 30 June 2021, up 4% from £1.18bn at 31 March 2021 and up 13.7% from £1.08bn a year earlier.

Regions

New business in Middle East and Africa rose 2.2% (Q4 21: £19m) in the quarter and 7.9% (FY21: £68.3m) for the full financial year.

Hansard said: “This is reflective of the Middle East emerging comparatively well from covid-19 and the successful acquisition of a number of high net worth single premium policies earlier in the year.”

In Latin America, inflows surged in the quarter by 53.9% to £11.7m, which was “driven by high net worth single and regular premium policies despite experiencing some of the most challenging global covid-19 conditions”.

Overall new business in the region for the full financial year came in at £40.3m, which is an 8% increase from £37.3m in FY 2020.

The insurance group said that the “Far East rebounded significantly from the low levels seen in the earlier part of this financial year”. New business grew by 28% for the 2021 financial year, where it stood at £13.7m.

The level of new business from the rest of world region rose 15.3% to £14.3m in Q4 2021, while it was up 4.5% (FY21: £50.7m) for the full financial year.

Japan ‘initial focus’

Graham Sheward, group chief executive at Hansard, said: “In an exceptionally challenging financial year, Hansard has delivered a positive new business result, finishing 8.3% up on financial year 2020, with signs that the outlook for savings and investment products is continuing to improve.

“Having been in the group chief executive role for the past two months, I have been encouraged and enthused by the level of activity taking place to ensure Hansard’s long-term success. My initial focus is on delivering the launch of our new proposition in Japan, something that continues to be dependent on the covid-19 position improving in Japan.

“We continue to expect this initiative to deliver significant growth in the coming financial year and I look forward to updating our stakeholders in more detail on this and other corporate objectives when we release our full financial year 2021 results in September.”

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