Not-so-great: OCBC’s Great Eastern profits plunge 31.2% in 2014

Blame the financial markets.

Lower gains, when seen from a bigger picture, could point to the economy as the main culprit.

Great Eastern, OCBC’s 87%-owned insurance arm, reported a 3Q14 core PATMI of SGD194.6m, down 20.4% QoQ and 31.2% YoY.

According to a report by Maybank Kim Eng, the declines were due to lower unrealised market-to-market gains from less-favourable financial-market conditions.

Maybank KE adds that Great Eastern’s underlying business was also weak, with total weighted new sales falling 2.8% QoQ and 22.3% YoY. 9M14 total weighted new sales declined 10.6% YoY to SGD660.1m.

New business embedded value, a measure of the long-term profitability of new sales, declined 4.8% QoQ and 14.0% YoY. 9M14 value fell 4.5% YoY.

The people you want to reach are already in this room.

Every quarter, SBR lands on the desks of the founders, CFOs, and directors running Asia's most consequential companies. Every day, they open our newsletter and read our website. It's a room that took twenty years to build — and it's the one most of our partners are trying to get into.

The good news is that the door is open. We work with companies on thought leadership articles, sponsored content, industry summits across Southeast Asia, regional awards programmes, podcasts, and media placements in print and digital. The shape of the right partnership depends on what you're trying to do, which is why we'd rather start with a conversation than send a rate card.

If you have something this room should know about, tell us. We'll tell you honestly whether we can help, and how.

No rate cards until we understand the brief. It's a better use of everyone's time.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia