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Insurers Prudential, Manulife seal tech alliances amid Beijing’s tightened tax rules
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Enoch YiuPublished: 4:30pm, 9 Sep 2026Updated: 4:57pm, 9 Sep 2026Several Hong Kong insurance companies, including Prudential, Manulife and BOC Life, are racing into cross-sector alliances from artificial intelligence underwriting to healthcare tie-ups to strengthen capabilities and efficiency amid China’s tightened cross-border tax rules.Prudential announced a partnership with Alibaba Cloud to launch an AI underwriter, designed to help financial consultants make preliminary decisions based on a client’s financial situation, medical record, occupation and residential profile.Collaboration would be a trend, as insurance companies alone could not cope with the new technology, said Lawrence Lam, CEO of Prudential Hong Kong, in a media briefing on Wednesday.
“AI underwriting allows our financial consultants to identify client needs and deliver preliminary results within minutes instead of days,” he said.
Ethan Yuan Zhiming, vice-president of international business and regional general manager of Hong Kong and Macau at Alibaba Cloud, said the partnership combined Prudential’s insurance expertise with Alibaba Cloud’s AI capabilities to provide faster and better service.
Insurers which can best use AI technology to develop their businesses would be the winners
Alibaba Cloud in June also signed a strategic partnership with Manulife Hong Kong to develop AI solutions to enhance customer experience and operational effectiveness. Alibaba Cloud is the AI and cloud computing services unit of Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning Post.
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