Board Statement

During the year, we made strides integrating sustainability into our business operations and organisational culture. At the same time, we have unveiled new propositions developed with sustainability in mind. As a leading regional insurer, we are committed to contributing to the communities in our markets, with a focus on promoting financial awareness, supporting the vulnerable and needy, health and wellness, and environment-related causes.

In a period marred by natural disasters and global health crisis, we scaled up our efforts to reinforce the importance of integrating sustainability considerations throughout our business. We are firmly focused on improving people’s lives in our communities by making insurance affordable, accessible and inclusive through the provision of better products and inclusive insurance solutions. Throughout the pandemic, we provided much-needed financial assistance including deferring of premium payments, and established several “Goodwill” funds across our markets to provide complimentary hospitalisation benefits and cash cover against COVID-19. We also provided financial aid and funded natural disaster response programmes for flood victims in Malaysia and earthquake recovery efforts in Indonesia for the needy and vulnerable segments.

The pandemic accelerated the pace of digitalisation and we implemented initiatives to deliver a more seamless digital experience for our customers and financial representatives, allowing our workforce to respond with agility, staying fully operational and serving customers in new ways.

As a responsible employer, we are committed to the success of our people. We do this by creating a safe, conducive and progressive workplace where our employees can thrive and achieve their full potential, despite the business, environment and work arrangement challenges during the year. 

Managing the transition to a low-carbon economy

At Great Eastern, we want to support our clients in the transition to a low-carbon economy and are aware of the impact we can make by managing climate risks effectively. During the year, we doubled down on our commitment by accelerating efforts to minimise our carbon footprint and integrating climate risk considerations into both our insurance and investment portfolios.

In our investment portfolio, we have broadened and deepened ESG integration across all asset classes and taken concrete steps to address climate risk. Similarly, we have made good progress in embedding ESG considerations in our business activities.

We encouraged customers to participate in the green economy through our GREAT Green SP, a short-term endowment plan which invests in projects that support climate change mitigation, such as renewable energy, green buildings and the deployment of electric vehicle charging stations. Separately, we also partnered the Special Needs Trust Company to help parents of children with special needs secure their future through our affordable Great Eastern Cares Term Plan.

As part of our efforts to stay resilient in the face of climate change, we have set out an Operational Net Zero ambition by 2025. We look forward to sharing more details about our decarbonisation journey in the future.