FWD plots next growth phase as Hong Kong IPO opens access to capital, CEO says

The Hong Kong IPO is not the endgame for home-grown Hong Kong insurer as CEO Huynh sets sights on a new growth phase

FWD Group, a regional insurer founded by Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li Tzar-kai, aims to use Hong Kong as a springboard to expand its business in the region after completing its HK$3.47 billion (US$442 million) fundraising in the city.

The firm’s initial public offering (IPO) will help improve its capital structure and serve a bigger pool of clients in the coming years as demand for insurance protection increases with wealth creation, according to CEO Huynh Thanh Phong.

“A successful IPO is a very important milestone for us, but it is not the end-game for us,” he said in an interview with the Post on Sunday. “The IPO gives us flexibility in capital management. It supports our vision of building a pan-Asian business that is based in Hong Kong and serves customers across Asia.”

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FWD will make its trading debut in Hong Kong on Monday under the 1828 stock code.

The insurer sold 91.3 million shares at HK$38 each, giving the company a market capitalisation of HK$48.3 billion. About 30 per cent of the IPO shares went to retail investors, tripling the initial allocation to meet excess demand. FWD has an option to sell a further 13.7 million shares through an overallotment to the IPO managers.

The Hong Kong stock exchange’s main board hosted 42 IPOs in the first six months of this year, which generated US$13.5 billion in proceeds, making it the busiest venue globally for first-time stock offerings.

Huynh, a 59-year-old Canadian, is an insurance stalwart. He has been leading FWD since March 2014 after holding top regional roles at AIA Group, Prudential Plc and Manulife. He said Hong Kong’s deep capital market made the financial hub an ideal location for regional headquarters.

After the IPO, Huynh said FWD would continue to focus on Asia, which is the fastest-growing insurance market worldwide. FWD’s 33 banking partners in the region provided a big pool of potential customers of about 280 million consumers, he added.

FWD’s new business annualised premium value rose 46 per cent to US$679 million in the first quarter from a year earlier. Hong Kong was its single largest market with 42 per cent of annual premium equivalent in 2024, followed by Thailand at 30 per cent.

Its annualised premium equivalents grew 5.2 times over the past decade to US$1.9 billion in 2024, according to its IPO prospectus. The group achieved its first net profit in 2024 amounting to US$24 million from losses of US$733 million in 2023 and US$320 million in 2022.

Huynh said he met Li in 2013 and decided to establish FWD after buying over the insurance assets of Dutch banking group ING Groep.

“When I met [him], we wondered why there was not a home-grown, successful pan-Asian insurance group in Hong Kong,” he said. “The digital technology advancement at that time also paved the way for us to create a new insurance company.”

FWD has relied on Hong Kong since its inception as the base to grow into 10 other Asian markets, including the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. The group now has 6,900 employees, 55,100 agents and 33 banking partners, and serves more than 30 million customers.

“Hong Kong is a great market to start an insurance group because it sits in a wonderful geographic area of southern China, where there is very close access to the Greater Bay Area,” he said. “The city also has a critical mass of talents” as well as supportive regulatory authorities, he added.

FWD plots next growth phase as Hong Kong IPO opens access to capital, CEO says

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