AIA Group posts 44 percent rise in new business growth for first quarter

(Reuters) - AIA Group Ltd (1299.HK), the world's second-largest life insurer by market capitalisation, reported a 44 percent rise in the value of new business in the first quarter, driven by surging demand to buy insurance in Hong Kong and China.

AIA said the company's value of new business, which measures expected profits from new premiums and is a key yardstick for growth, rose to $578 million in the quarter from $425 million a year earlier, on a constant exchange rate basis.

The company said its Hong Kong business benefited from strong growth in the domestic market and an uplift in new business from mainland Chinese customers.

AIA, which listed in Hong Kong in 2010 after a spin-off from bailed-out U.S. insurer AIG, also recorded double-digit growth in new business by value in Malaysia.

"By geography, China and Hong Kong experienced excellent growth, thanks to rising active agents, further improvements in productivity and product mix, and were the key growth driver in the quarter," Jefferies analysts wrote in a note.

AIA, originally founded in Shanghai nearly 100 years ago, was the first foreign insurer to be granted a license in China.

(Reporting by Kshitiz Goliya in Bengaluru; Editing by Richard Pullin)