Prudential Hong Kong will continue to add more agents, open more health clinics and invest in technology including artificial Intelligence (AI) to boost its insurance business, as it sees a buying spree among visitors from mainland China continuing, according to its top boss.

The insurer, which is headquartered in London but has its business focus in Asia and Africa, has been investing in AI and other technology to speed up the sales process and enhance client service, according to Lawrence Lam, CEO of Prudential Hong Kong.

“Technology or AI is not to replace any of our staff or agents, but the investment aims at enhancing the productivity of our agents,” Lam said in a media briefing last week. “We plan to hire 4,000 extra agents this year to boost our sales team to over 20,000.”

The goal is to encourage all financial firms in Hong Kong to adopt new technologies, including AI and distributed ledgers, to enhance their services, reduce costs and enhance the city’s capabilities as an international financial centre.

In the first half of the year, Prudential used AI and other technology to help agents accelerate the buying process for a policy to 25 minutes from longer than an hour previously. Clients now sign up via an online platform rather than the previous requirement of multiple signatures on many physical forms.

In addition, the insurer opened six clinics in the first half of the year, which allow customers to get pre-insurance health checks done in one visit, rather than visiting multiple doctors. Lam said the insurer will open more clinics over the next year.

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AI will come into play in market intelligence. “The adoption of AI and machine learning will also help us to analyse the demand and questions raised by our policyholders at our call centres, which will help us to improve our products and services,” Lam said.

Prudential’s competitors, such as Manulife, HSBC Life and virtual insurers including Bowtie Life and OneDegree, are also investing in technology to boost sales and make the claims process easier.

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Local insurers’ investments in technology and services aim to capture a share of a booming business opportunity following the return of visitors from mainland China after the border reopened in January.

Life insurance sales in Hong Kong to mainland visitors surged 59-fold in the first half as visitors rushed to the city to buy policies with higher returns than they can get in mainland China, according to data from the Insurance Authority.

Sales of policies to mainlanders reached HK$31.9 billion in the six months to June, compared with HK$540 million a year earlier, representing 31 per cent of the total in Hong Kong during the period. They also exceeded the level in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We are optimistic about the outlook of our Hong Kong business,” Lam said, as the number of mainland visitors to the city continues to grow.