AXA is launching a new Hong Kong–based platform for high‑net‑worth individuals, doubling down on the city just as it overtakes Switzerland as the world’s largest cross‑border wealth hub.
On Monday, the French insurer unveiled AXA Global Private, a hub that combines life insurance products with wealth management and succession services for rich families in Asia. The platform will also bundle niche coverages often demanded by the wealthy, such as kidnap‑and‑ransom, art collection, and family‑office insurance.
“After COVID when the border reopened, we saw mainland Chinese customers coming back to Hong Kong, but these were high‑net‑worth customers, rather than the mass affluent,” says Sally Wan, CEO of AXA Greater China and the newly appointed head of AXA Global Private. “They were looking for diversification and protection, especially for family business and legacy planning.”
Wan says wealthy families increasingly use participating life policies for estate planning and efficient tax management, often wrapping 5% to 10% of their total assets into insurance contracts that behave “like a trust.” Policies sold in Hong Kong are typically denominated in U.S. or Hong Kong dollars and offer exposure to asset classes that are harder to access in China. “Just Hong Kong may not be enough” to serve those clients, Wan adds.
Mainland Chinese policyholders account for roughly half of AXA Hong Kong’s overall portfolio by premium, according to Wan. Many of those customers come through private banks.
“The difference is that for high‑net‑worth individuals, the premium size is much larger and the underwriting, financial planning, and tax‑planning needs are much more complex,” Wan says.
The group can also insure art collections, provide kidnap‑and‑ransom coverage for families traveling in higher‑risk markets, and offer bespoke protection for family offices and their physical and cyber assets. “If you look at other insurance companies providing high‑net‑worth products like art insurance, they probably need to purchase from somebody else,” Wan argues. “We can do it all in one shop.”
AXA, No. 103 on the Fortune Global 500, generated 116 billion euros ($133 billion) in revenue last year, a 6% increase. Net income rose 24% to 9.7 billion euros ($11.2 billion). The company is refocusing its attention back to its core product of insurance, selling AXA Investment Managers to BNP Paribas last year.
Hong Kong boom
Hong Kong narrowly overtook Switzerland as the world’s largest cross-border wealth hub last year, according to analysis from Boston Consulting Group. Cross-border wealth in the Chinese city rose to $2.9 trillion, thanks to surging inflows from mainland China and the city’s strong IPO market. BCG forecasts the gap will widen by the end of the decade: Hong Kong will be home to $4.6 trillion in cross-border flows, compared with $4 trillion in Switzerland.
Still, BCG’s analysis suggests that Hong Kong is primarily a hub for mainland China, which contributed almost 60% of cross-border inflows last year. The firm estimates that mainland Chinese wealth grew by 15% last year, and will continue to grow by 9% a year through 2030.
Courtesy of AXA
Wan isn’t surprised that Hong Kong overtook Switzerland: Several organizations, including the city’s government, expected to reach this milestone by the end of the decade. “Now it’s just faster,” she says. “The majority of the flow is coming from mainland China, but it’s also coming from Taiwan, Korea, and other places in Asia like India.” She credits Hong Kong’s booming financial sector, including its IPO market and family offices, for the surge in wealth.
Hong Kong’s government has also spent the past few years aggressively pitching the city to global capital. Wan sits on the market development committee of the Financial Services Development Council, an advisory body representing the financial sector.
“During Covid, there were a lot of misconceptions about Hong Kong,” she says. “The government has been going out to promote the city, and the result is that family offices are coming back.”
Wan suggests that AXA might expand the Global Private platform to the Middle East after Asia.
She concedes that while flows into Hong Kong from the Gulf remain “very limited,” they’ll likely build as more Middle Eastern entrepreneurs set up Asian operations and relocate part of their businesses and families to the region. “It will be coming, though probably not as much as the China flow,” she says.
Aging populations
Hong Kong is aging quickly. With a median age of 47.9 years, it is one of the oldest cities in the world. The city reported around 32,000 births last year, leading to a fertility rate of just 0.73 births per woman.
“Aging is giving insurers a lot more pressure because people live a lot longer,” Wan says. “In the past, people may have had enough money to live for another 20 years after retirement. Now, they’ll live for 30. What happens in that last 10 years?”
Wan argues that high‑net‑worth clients, who typically combine life, health and long‑term care coverage with detailed financial planning, are less likely to be caught unprepared. Her bigger worry is the mass market in Hong Kong and across the Greater Bay Area. Hong Kong has historically lacked sufficient rehabilitation and elder‑care facilities.
“Hong Kong has not come to that realization yet,” she says. “The education has not been spread enough.”