AIA appoints Graeme Edwards as Executive General Manager for New Zealand

Edwards joins the AIA Australia & New Zealand Executive team

AIA New Zealand, one of New Zealand’s leading life insurers,  today announced the appointment of Graeme Edwards as Executive General Manager, New Zealand.

In this role, Graeme is responsible for leading the AIA New Zealand business and also becomes a member of the AIA Australia & New Zealand executive committee. He reports to Damien Mu, CEO of AIA Australia and New Zealand. Graeme was previously Chief Distribution and Marketing Officer.

Damien Mu said, “I am delighted that Graeme has accepted the invitation to lead our business in New Zealand. He is well known to us all having worked at AIA for the past 3 years and has played an instrumental role in delivering the significant growth we have achieved New Zealand in the recent past. I know that he will use his deep industry knowledge and experience and strong relationships across the market to capitalise on positive momentum from the last few years and take AIA New Zealand’s business to the next level.

Graeme Edwards said, “I am excited and extremely proud to lead AIA Zealand. Our success to date has been built on our dedication to nurturing long-lasting, strong relationships with our business partners. We will strive to maintain market leadership in this regard and add further value to our IFA partnerships to fulfil our ambition of meeting the protection and long term savings needs of our customers in order to help Kiwis live longer healthier better lives and plan for a brighter future.”

About AIA New Zealand

AIA New Zealand is a member of the AIA Group. Since the company arrived in New Zealand in 1981, AIA New Zealand has consistently provided the market with innovative personal and business insurance products that suit the Kiwi way of life.

Today AIA offers a complete range of risk management products that focus on the needs of customers. AIA New Zealand is based in Auckland with regional offices in Wellington and Christchurch. However, through a network of financial advisers, AIA reaches every corner of the country.

AIA New Zealand is a member of the Insurance and Savings Ombudsman Scheme (ISO) and the Health Funds Association of New Zealand (HFANZ). Standard and Poor’s reaffirmed AIA New Zealand’s insurer financial strength rating at AA- (very Strong) in June 2016.

AIA Financial Strength Rating

AIA International Limited, trading as AIA New Zealand, has a current insurer financial strength rating of AA- (Very Strong) from Standard and Poor’s. A summary of the Standard and Poor’s rating scale is:

AAA – Extremely Strong AA – Very Strong A – Strong BBB – Good BB – Marginal B – Weak
CCC – Very Weak CC – Extremely Weak R – Regulatory Action D – Default NR – Not Rated

Plus (+) or Minus (-): The rating from ‘AA’ to ‘CCC’ may be modified by the addition of a plus or minus sign to show relative standings within the major rating categories.

About AIA

AIA Group Limited and its subsidiaries (collectively “AIA” or the “Group”) comprise the largest independent publicly 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, Cambodia, a 97 per cent subsidiary in Sri Lanka, a 49 per cent joint venture in India and a representative office in Myanmar.

The business that is now AIA was first established in Shanghai almost a century ago. It is a market leader in the Asia-Pacific region (ex-Japan) based on life insurance premiums and holds leading positions across the majority of its markets. It had total assets of US$185 billion as of 30 November 2016.

AIA meets the long-term savings and protection needs of individuals by offering a range of products and services including life insurance, accident and health insurance and savings plans. The Group also provides employee benefits, credit life and pension services to corporate clients. Through an extensive network of agents, partners and employees across Asia-Pacific, AIA serves the holders of more than 30 million individual policies and over 16 million participating members of group insurance schemes.

AIA Group Limited is listed on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited.